Son of Tartarus
by Dragon Emperor0
Summary: Nigel Jager is a sixteen year old with ADHD and Dyslexia. He's also what's known as a half blood. But he Isn't a demigod or a Demi Titan, he's something much more powerful.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: There's a new half blood in camp.**

In the streets of New York City, there lives a population of people, kids actually, who all have a lot in common, they have dyslexia, can understand fluent Greek even though they've never learned it, have varying powers depending on the circumstances, but there's one more thing these kids have in common, they're all Demigods, children of the actual deities of Olympus.

And I just found out i'm one of them, well not exactly, it's hard to explain. Let me backtrack a bit to explain a few things…

Okay, so my name is Nigel, Nigel Jager, (and no it's not pronounced JAG-er, it's pronounced YAY-ger, honestly do I sound like a dancer to you?) I'm fifteen and am currently in the ninth grade, I'm about five foot five, I have short blonde hair that I buzzed the sides off of and dyed black making it a faux hawk, I also have tan skin, a slightly athletic build, and blackish green eyes that have an ethereal glow to them (or so people tell me). Anyway I also wear a set of black jeans, a black jacket, black shoes, a black shirt with a green flaming skull and a silver bracelet that has the greek inscription "to suppress and imprison" on it.

Yeah I'm a really edgy guy, so what? Who the fuck cares anyway? I don't. Anyway I live in Queens with my foster parents the Petermans, pretty cool people, I like them. The reason why I have foster parents is because my mom died when I was little and my dad never came back, hell, I was never even really sure he even existed.

But despite that I live a pretty simple, but boring life, being dyslexic I always have trouble reading, so I have tutors like my history teacher Mr. Rowner (who's a guy in a wheelchair who looks like he could pass for a Viking with how much hair he's got on his face) to help, pretty sweet I know, but it doesn't make school any less boring.

My only friends are my foster brother Bennie, My foster sister Anna, and a disabled kid named Gabe Oakland. Yeah I'm pretty much a social no body. And that's not to say I'm bullied, no actually I just like to keep to myself, it's just a me thing I guess, but enough of that, back to what I was saying.

The day I found out I was a half blood was the weirdest fucking day of my life. And don't even get me started on all the weird things that were happening, like how on the way home Gabe was being all weird about three old ladies who were knitting, and when one cut a string short he gulped quite loudly. So yeah, I'm walking home with Gabe like I usually do, and he asks me.

"So, you figured out what you're going to do for summer?" He asked, still a little skittish after the whole thing with the old ladies.

I shook my head, shrugging. "Hell if I know Gabe, you?"

"Oh I'm going to a camp in upstate New York, a cousin of mine works there and he said they could use the work, wanna come?" He questioned.

I thought about it for about a New York minute, a summer camp, a place where I could meet some new people and get out of this stuffy old town? Maybe. "Sure, beats being here all summer anyway…"

Then there was a loud clang from behind us. I turned around and got ready for a fight, being that we lived in Queens, muggings were common, especially since we were right in the middle of Little China and little Italy, where the Chinese mafia and Italian Mafia have regular brawls with each other over territory, and also being part Greek and German, I tend to either get a pass or a swift kick in the ass. "Who's there?!" I yelled.

Then something came out of the alley across from us, and it wasn't a mobster or enforcer like I was expecting, it big and gray came out instead it was long, had five heads and looked butt ugly. Only one thought went through my mind at that moment, you didn't have to be a monsterology major to know what this thing was.

"Ah shit, it's a fucking hydra!" I yelled as me and Gabe ducked behind a parked mini van as the middle hydra head spewed fire at us. "Those things are real?!"

"And a lot of other stuff too!" Gabe said. "Come on, we gotta run!"

"No wait." I said as instinct took over and I spun my bracelet. Then it suddenly turned to liquid and it morphed into a six foot long silver staff, which had crescent shaped hooks on the large rectangular bladed ends, and had the same inscription on the handle.

"Nigel don't, it'll-" Gabe tried to say, but it was too late, I had already charged forward and started twirling my staff, whacking the hydra's heads and causing it to fall over, as it tried to get up, I chopped off the primary head, Then started going around and trying to do the same to the others. It fell to the ground with a thud, and when it tried to get back up as it tried to regenerate, I stabbed it through the heart, and something started to come out, invigorating me as it went through me. "Kill you…" Gabe finally finished.

I panted as the staff turned back into a bracelet. Gabe grabbed my arm as he dragged me to a bus station, we suddenly got on the bus and went to somewhere up state. After we got off at our stop, we started walking again.

"Where are we going?" I asked, still trying to process what the fuck just happened.

"Camp. It's the only place safe for you now, the Monsters know you're of age, they'll be searching for you." Gabe explained, taking off his hat, revealing a small set of horns.

"Whoa! You're...you're a satyr?" I gasped, recognizing his appearance from a book Mr. Rowner lent me once.

"Yeah." He nodded.

I raised my eyebrows. "Shit."

Then we came up at a place with a log wall surrounding a giant plot of land, and the sign just above the entrance had Greek writing on it that read: Camp Half-Blood. Whatever the hell that was.

"What is this place?" I asked as we walked in revealing a huge fucking camp ground.

"Nigel Jager, welcome to camp half blood." Gabe smiled.

**also readers here's a link to the art of Nigel: ** neotamer101/art/Percy-Jackson-OC-Nigel-Jager-805665638


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: I'm a Demi-What Now?**

So to begin with I'll say this, Camp Half Blood is one of the most normal Camps I've ever been to, which is really saying something because it is literally _nothing _like any normal camp.

I mean you got Capture the flag that involves weapons and armor, harpies who do the dishes, Nymphs and Driads who do decorations and gardening, and don't even get me started on how crazy the cabins are...wait what was I gonna say? I had a point, gah ya know what? Fuck it.

Anyway let me backtrack a bit to tell you what all happened after I arrived here….

(Flashback)

As me and Gabe walked into camp I saw everyone was heading to the dining hall, or at least what I assume is a dining hall.

We were about to go there when all of a sudden a white horse came trotting up to us, only I realized he wasn't entirely a horse, the top part actually turned out to be…

"Mr. Rowner?" I asked as I stood up straight, taking my hand off my bracelet which I had reflexively grabbed.

"Hello Nigel, I see Gabe finally brought you here." The man said.

I shook my head and blinked a couple times to make sure I wasn't dreaming. "Well fuck me sideways. My history teacher is a centaur." I said, scratching the back of my head.

Mr. Rowner laughed as he pat me on the back. "I certainly love your dry humor Mr. Jager, come let's get you something to eat."

As we walked in the dining hall I looked and saw several tables, each had the symbol of a particular god or goddess on them. My guess was that they helped the Demigod siblings stay in groups. Made sense to me.

I looked for a spot to sit and saw one entire table vacant. "Go on." Mr. Rowner, or as it turned out Chiron, encouraged me to go sit.

I got what was available to eat, which was Pizza and a few other foods. I chose exactly eight square cut slices of thin crust pizza with pepperoni, mushrooms, onions, bacon, sausage and jalapeños. My favorite combo. And I also got an Orange Vanilla Coke to drink.

As I sat down I started eating, and then I heard someone else sit next to me. I turned and saw a guy a few years older than me, probably nineteen, with black hair, tan skin and green eyes. He was wearing a shirt with a Pegasus on it and camp half blood on it.

"Hi, you're the new kid Gabe Oakland brought in right?" He asked.

I continued to look at him and chew before swallowing. "Yeah." I managed to say before taking a sip of my drink.

"Cool. I'm Percy by the way, Percy Jackson. I'm a son of Posiden." He said holding out his hand.

I stopped drinking and shook his hand. Swallowing my drink I cleared my throat. "Nigel, Nigel Jager. Son of...i don't know."

Percy laughed. "Don't worry you'll find out soon enough. Don't worry about it."

I honestly had no idea how to pin this guy. No one I ever met was this friendly. At least not intentionally. "I'll take your word for it." I replied.

"So where are you from?" Percy asked.

"Queens." I replied eating more pizza, but bit into a huge jalapeño. "Jalapeña!" I yelped as I chugged down my drink.

This caused an uproar from another table, namely from two guys, twins from a table I assumed to be the Hermès table.

Percy pat my back as I coughed. "That's the Stole brothers, don't worry about them."

I just sighed as I continued to eat. What a bunch of losers.

Later that night we all gathered around the camp fire for some sort of sorting ceremony to see who our godly parent was and which cabin we'd be in. Honestly I didn't care as long as I wasn't in the Hermès cabin.

A few kids were sorted before Chiron called on me. As we waited in silence, I thought I wasn't gonna get picked, but then the campfire's flames turned the same ethereal green as my eyes and then everyone gasped as the fire returned to normal. I was really confused at this point, but then Percy pointed above my head, so I looked and there was a black orb floating over me, one that just kept changing shape, I tried to get away from it but it just followed me.

Chiron, who had a stern expression on his face nodded. "As I expected."

"What?" I asked in confusion.

He took me by the shoulder and faced everyone. "Everyone, I give to you, Nigel Jager. The Son of Tartarus, and this world's very first Demi Primordial."

I just stood there in shock as I looked at everyone in front of me. I'm a Demi..._What _now?!


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: I unleash my inner Esterossa**

After it was revealed that I was a Demi Primordial everyone was quiet, deathly quiet. I honestly couldn't stop myself from squirming as I saw all their eyes on me.

Then a blonde girl from the Athena group, who was wearing a yankie cap on, spoke up (figures she probably found out I'm a Metts fan). "How is that possible Chiron? Primordial gods look down on humans. Thinking them unworthy of existence, let alone bearing a child of theirs."

Chiron nodded. "That is true in most cases, miss Chase, but if you let me explain. Things may seem clearer."

The girl sat down as Chiron continued. "The Primordial That siered Nigel is Tartarus, and I believe the reason being is that it lines up with a prophecy made by our oricle two weeks after the defeat of the giants."

Everyone again was silent, though some seemed annoyed, others seemed to be feeling dread. My guess is prophecies ain't too popular around here.

That's when a girl from the Aries cabin stood up. "Oh yeah? Well if you ask me, I say we should put this guy down before that prophecy has a chance to get it's paragraphs straight!"

She picked up a spear that suddenly started to spark with electricity. I, not wanting to be skewered, reflexively activated my staff.

The I, also out of habit then slipped in my ear buds as one of my favorite songs played, the girl then charged at me as the music filled my ears, it was Full Counter, an Esterossa Rap.

As she thrusted the spear at me I expertly blocked it before I swung around my staff like a fire pole and kicked her in the face.

As she staggered back I then dashed forward and ducked under her face and delivered an uppercut, then as her jaw was recoiling up, I jumped in the air and twisted my body so I could deliver a solid punch to her surprised face.

This sent her down on the ground as I landed. I dusted myself off as I picked up an twirled my staff. "Had enough?" I asked.

She got up and she looked mad. For one, her face was bleeding, and her hair was all messed up. "No. Because now I'm pissed."

A red aura started to appear around her as she charged at me. I readied myself as I felt power surge through me as well. As she tried to punch me, I dodged the first and managed to catch the second. Which caused the red aura to slowly go from her to me.

I felt the power, like I was draining her godly abilities. I liked it. The girl dropped to her knees as her body started to catch up with her injuries, and I readied myself to strike the final blow.

"That's enough!" Chiron yelled.

I let go of the girls hand and turned to face him. Chiron looked at me sternly, so I took out my earbuds.

"Aries cabin please take Miss Le Rue to her bed." The Aries kids did just that. "And as for you Nigel, I'm going to have you stay with a senior camper until we can find you a better place to stay at camp." He then looked around. "Any volunteers?"

No one raised their hand at first. But then someone did. "I'll do it." Percy said.

I looked at the guy, who was also getting a 'are you crazy look' from the Athena girl from earlier. From the way those two look at each other, I'd say they're a couple.

Chiron nodded. "Very well Percy. It will be your job to help Nigel get settled. Now everyone, to bed!"

I walked to the Poseidon cabin with Percy and I honestly had no idea what to say to him. As we walked in the cabin Percy turned to face me.

"Well, welcome to casa de Poseidon, the bottom bunk is mine so you can have the top bunk. Bathroom's right over there. Just make yourself at home." He told with a smile. God was with this guy?

I just shrugged and threw my stuff near the bed. Then I just sat down in a chair. "Ya know you might as well drop the nice guy act." I said bluntly.

The guy looked at me in genuine confusion. "What do you mean?" He asked.

"No one's as nice as you are, at least not without strings attached." I told him as I folded my arms.

Percy just looked at me and then scratched his head nervously. "You really think that? Harsh."

"That's the way it is in my experience." I said.

"Well you won't have to worry. I'm on your side." He said, sitting next to me.

"You sure you're girlfriend in the Athena cabin will approve?" I asked.

The son of Poseidon looked surprised. "Oh who? Annabeth? Ah don't worry, she'll warm up to ya."

I mulled this over. "Ah What the hell, I'll give this a whirl."

Percy smiled. "Great. Tomorrow I'll introduce you to everyone and give you a tour so you can get the hang of things."

"I won't have to get near the Aries cabin will I?" I asked.

"I'll try to help you stay away from them. But don't worry, if I were in your shoes today, I'd fight Clarisse too." Percy told me.

I nodded as I thought back to the girl. Clarisse huh? I'll have to keep that in mind. I got up in my bunk as I laid down. Tomorrow is gonna be one crazy day.


	4. Chapter 4

**Well****dear readers here's chapter four, sorry about the long wait, got caught up with a bunch of stuff IRL. but here it is. also to address a question i saw in the reviews:**

_just a random__nerd:_ **don't you think that Nigel is a little OP?**

**to that I say, no. nigel's powers have very clear limitations and permitters, and unless it's enhanced by a specific type of weapon, there's little he can really do with them, so he has to rely on what combat training and experience he ha in order to really fight. plus theres never been a son of tartarus before in cannon so i'm allowed to take some creative liberties.**

**Chapter 4: Capture the Flag and a new power**

The next day at camp I could already feel everybody's eyes boring holes into me. Reason why? They think I'm like those giants who nearly destroyed Olympus.

Personally I don't see the connection. Chiron said something about a prophecy involving a son of Tartarus like me, but he never really got into the specifics.

I groaned out loud as I ran a hand through my hair. I got some breakfast as I walked into the mess hall, I looked for a place to sit, then I saw Percy wave me over to a table he was at.

I went over to it and sat down. "What's up?" I asked.

"Just waiting for you. I see those new clothes fit you." Percy smiled.

I looked at the clothes I had on a T shirt with the camp logo on it which I removed the sleeves off of and a pair of brown cargo shorts. Honestly I didn't really care about the stuff, just as long as I had something to wear.

"It's fine I guess." I shrugged. Then I noticed the blonde girl, Anabeth was looking at me, which kinda both weirded me out and pissed me off at the same time.

I decided to make that clear. "Am I bothering you or something blondie?" I asked her as calmly as possible.

She gave me a death glare. "Don't call me blondie." She snapped, before looking at Percy. "What are you doing calling him over here Percy?"

"Give him a chance Anabeth, he's actually pretty cool, when he's not in a bad mood." Percy told her while looking at me.

"Hey." I warned.

Annabeth looked at me, then at Percy. "You're absolutely sure Seaweed Brain?"

Percy nodded. "Positive."

I snorted. "_Seaweed brain?"_ I laughed. "That's your petname? Ha!"

The son of Poseidon blushed a dark red. "Yeah, So?"

I just kept chuckled as Annabeth looked at me again. Then she looked at Percy, again. Seriously what was this chick part parrot or something?

"You're absolutely sure we can trust him?" She questioned.

"As sure as I was with Tyson." The guy shrugged.

That seemed to do it for her, because then she shut up for the remainder of the meal. Which had me mentally shouting thank you to whichever Olympian helped shut her up.

After breakfast everyone went about doing different activities. Whereas I was roped into playing capture the flag with the Aries cabin and some of the Hermès cabin, I being stuck on team Hermès...lucky me.

So I was stuck being the guardian of the flag, so I whipped out Suppressor and waited for anyone to be dumb enough to come get me.

And sure enough a meat head from the Aries cabin came running towards where I was, he was about three times my size, and was built like a lumberjack.

I readied myself as I felt my power start to swell, so far all I can do with it is either block or absorb godly energy and absorb the life force of monsters I kill, but if I absorb godly energy I can only do it in small amounts, not in big waves like I did the first time, or I'll be in pain the next morning, and apparently it doesn't seem to work on kids of the big three like Percy. Real pissy if you ask me.

So the kid tried to swing a sword at me and I reflexively blocked it with my staff and deflected it before delivering a clean smack with one of the ends to his skull, sending him staggering back.

I twirled my staff and got ready again, only to have to dodge as the guy tried to take my head off. As I got up again I decided to get in close and use his size to my advantage, so I used Suppressor to pole vault over his head and hook it around his neck, slowly starting to cut off his air supply. As he tried to buck me off I tried to block his godly energy as much as I could.

I wasn't able to block much but it was enough to wear the guy stopped bucking around and then fell unconscious about ten seconds later.

After this I was pretty winded. But I didn't have time to get my bearings together because three more Aries kids were coming right for me.

"Oh you gotta be kidding me." I said as I got near the flag, the first two a guy and a girl, they both tried to jump me, which made me have to roll out of the way.

Then the third tried to get me from behind, but I was able to clock him in the head with my staff hard enough to make him fall over.

I got near the flag again as they started creeping towards me. Another thing about my powers apparently they can only work on one or two people at a time, and it has a two to three foot limit distance. So given that they were keeping a good four feet away, I was screwed.

But just as the biggest guy started running towards me I felt my vision start to darken and my chest started to feel fuzzy.

I dropped Suppressor as I reached for whatever was coming from my chest and then suddenly reflexes took over and I blocked the guys sword with whatever was in my hand.

As my vision came back I saw that I was gripping some sort of dagger, the edge of the blade was silver and the flat of the blade was purple, the blade itself was slightly wavy and the hilt was in the shape of a silver fan, the handle was purple and it had a silver pommel.

I swiped the dagger to the right and it deflected the blow right back at the guy, that's when I realized it, this thing amplifies my godly energy deflection. That's useful.

I walked back and stood up, holding the blade in front of me. I called Suppressor back and decided to just use this new dagger.

The two remaining Aries kids looked at their now unconscious friend and then at me.

"I know I don't know much about you and your powers kid, but I'm pretty sure you didn't have that ability last night." The guy said.

I looked at the blade in my hand. He was right, so far I've only been able to suppress, slightly deflect or slightly absorb the godly energy of others. This was definitely new.

"Hell if I know pal." I said as I let him come towards me.

As he swung his sword at me I bobbed away from the blade before ducking and delivering a solid uppercut to his chin before jumping while he was still stunned, twisting in mid air and delivering a solid punch to his face, causing him to fall down. And once he was down and I landed I kicked him clear across the field about three feet.

The girl was the only one left, so charged at her with my new weapon and started slashing at her while she did the same, and when one charged with her super strength hit me, I slashed to the side, sending the blow right back at her. Causing her to fall on the ground.

As I was about to finish her off, the horn sounded, meaning that my team got the other team's flag.

Then the Stoll brothers came up to me.

"Hey Nigel, good work guarding the flag." Conner told me. "Is that a new dagger? Neato!"

I looked at the dagger again, and I saw a tiny inscription of 'Rebellion' written on the blade. "Yeah, it came to me during the fight. I think I'll call it...Rebellion."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: I learn something new**

After I had somehow made a weapon come out of thin air I decided to tell Percy, who then told me to bring it to Chiron.

Of course I figured that was the best course of action since he's been dealing with this weird demigod stuff longer than I have, so I did just that.

So I then went to Chiron who examined Rebellion with an intrigued and disturbed look on his face. After a few seconds his front left horse hoof pawed the ground and then he looked at me.

"Nigel, would you please bring out that staff of yours for me please?" He asked.

"Sure." I nodded as I got out Suppressor and handed it to him.

The centaur looked at both weapons closely and solemnly nodded. "As I suspected." He said finally.

"What?" I asked, confused as hell.

"It seems both of your weapons are made of Tartarus Silver, the most volatile and destructive Divine metal in existence." Chiron explained.

The word volatile rose a huge fucking red flag for me. "Volatile? Like as in it could blow up at any minute?" I asked.

Chiron shook his head. "No nothing that drastic. This metal is more or less the Divine equivalent of Mercury. It's toxic to both monsters, demigods and even the gods in its unpurified liquid form."

"Oh…" I nodded, kinda understanding now.

"But What really concerns me is the enchantment that's been placed on this blade, 'Rebellion' I think you call it?" Chiron mentioned.

Again, at the mention of enchantments red flags everywhere in brain town. "Enchantment?" I asked.

"Yes, apparently this weapon was infused with some sort of magic that draws out any Primordial power it's user has to its fullest potential at that given point. But it also seems to have an enchantment that causes it to repel other Divine metals." He answered.

I thought back to when that Aries kid's sword literally glanced away like it was hitting the same pole of a magnet, it must have been that enchantment.

I took this in. "So what you're saying is, if it weren't for that dagger, I wouldn't have been able to have drawn out so much of my power."

"Yes." Chiron nodded.

That fucking figures, I'm always falling behind on everything I do, class work, sports, you name it, and now apparently using my own powers is on that list.

But Chiron could tell what I was thinking. "But that's not to say that you won't be able to do it without the dagger, with proper training you'll be able to do that and more without your weapon and then some with it."

That cheered me up a bit. But then I remembered the weird feeling I felt. "Okay but what about the weird feeling I felt in my chest when Rebellion appeared?"

Chiron thought for a second. "Tartarus is known for being a place of shadows, and when a monster reappears from Tartarus' depths, they come by crawling through a portal of darkness. It could be that you somehow opened a portal like that yourself."

That would definitely explain the darkness I saw. I was about to ask something else, when Percy came in.

"Chiron, we gotta problem." He said while pretty much out of breath.

"What is it?" Chiron questioned.

"It's Rachel, she says she just had a vision. And from how lightheaded she said she was feeling, it was a real big one." Percy explained.

Alarm bells started sounding in my head. This couldn't be good, Percy had told me who this Rachel was yesterday, she was the oricle, and she was responsible for all the prophecies.

Chiron gestured for me to go with him, and we started walking towards some sort of cave where there was art supplies and paintings everywhere. In the middle of the cave was a lounge chair and a girl with curly red hair, freckles, green eyes and messy paint covered clothes was sitting while trying to take some Advil.

I walked in and saw a lot of pictures up close. One was of the battle with the Titans, I could tell because one of the demigods Percy told me was turned into Kronos was in it, pretty sure his name was luke. And then another was of the battle with the giants.

I paused in front of this painting and saw all the giants. They were big, ugly, and just made me regret the fact that we were related. I looked at the name of the painting, it was called "Blood of Olympus". Real fitting if you ask me.

As I continued looking at the painting Chiron called me over, I walked over towards where they were and saw that Rachel was feeling better.

"Okay Rachel, What did you see in your vision?" Chiron asked.

"It…it was about him." She said pointing at me. "He was being fighting another half blood, and after the fight was over, there stood a man who looked exactly like him, only way older and more adult, and his power was insanely strong."

Chiron nodded, and I was confused. "What?" I questioned.

"Rachel's visions are typically cryptic, but I think what she's trying to describe is your father Tartarus, trying and use your body as a vessel." He explained.

"How?" I asked.

"Primordials are capable of creating temporary physical forms, and entering vessels, but in order to do so they must seal away the actual soul of the vessel." Chiron told me. "In other words he'd have to kill you."

"So in order to use me as a skin suit he has to kill me?" I asked. "This feels like I'm in the Seven Deadly Sins."

"Whatever the case, it's clear, now what we have to do." Chiron said.

"Yeah, we gotta keep you alive and make sure you don't die." Percy added.

"No pressure there." I grumbled as I looked at Rebellion again. '_This is gonna be a real pain.'_


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey readers, sorry about the long wait but I'm proud to say chapter six is here and it has a guest appearance by youtuber, fellow Demigod and Daughter of Apollo Hayden Daviau (** channel/UC7j5khYKbDo4HRUt9Rlcq7Q**) and I'd like to thank here for letting me use Her as a character in this story so please go and check out her channel.**

**Chapter 6: I become a Monster Hunter**

It had been a day or so since I got Rebellion and officially learned I had the potential to get taken over by my Primordial dad Tartarus. Yeah, not the greatest way to start off my summer vacation, I know.

Though the good news was I finally got enough street credit after beating three demigods all at once, which made the Aries cabin finally stopped messing with me. So that's a plus I guess.

Not to mention lately I've been hanging out with Percy and his friends, who were actually not half bad, except this little punk Nico, I don't know why but that kid gives me the heeby jeebies.

But I think the best part of camp so far is this thing the Apollo cabin is doing, I think it's called "Demigod coffee time" or something like that. It's where everyone gives their own coffee (or just regular drink) recipes and the Apollo cabin helps make enough for the whole camp to try.

And so far? All of them seem great, except one made by Mr. D, that guy honestly couldn't make a good drink if the instructions on how to do were shoved up his ass.

If I had to pick a favorite though, I'd have to say that the Poseidon Shakarotto was probably a good contender, either that or one of the Aphrodite drinks, I dunno I'm not a coffee aficionado.

Anyway, so it's my turn to lend a recipe this week and I honestly had something in mind but I wasn't sure if I should use it, so I went to see Grover Underwood and Gabe, the two satyrs ate pretty much anything, so using them as test subjec-I mean _taste testers _would be a safe bet.

The recipe I had in mind was one that my foster mom showed me, and since she was a professional barista, she knew what she was doing. The name of the drink was called the Dark chocolate mint KitKat mocha. This was my favorite because it had my favorite candy (KitKat), and flavor (mint) in it.

The person helping me with the coffee was a daughter of Apollo, Hayden, real nice girl, she had short hair that she had dyed red combed over to one side, fair skin and either brown or hazel eyes, I can't really tell.

"Okay so what will we need for this drink?" Hayden asked. To my knowledge she was from Canada, so she said it with a small bit of an accent, or maybe it's just me from being raised in New York.

I took out a list of ingredients I had in my bag earlier from my back pocket. "Let's see...two oz. of espresso, some warmed whole or 2% milk (depending on preference), a point five oz. of dark chocolate syrup, half a teaspoon of mint extract, whipped cream and crumbled Mint KitKats." I listed.

Hayden nodded and started rummaging around. "Peppermint, green, or Spearmint?" She asked.

"Green." I answered, recalling what my foster mom told me. "Peppermint is for Christmas, spearmint is way too strong."

Hayden nodded as she pulled things out, not even breaking her concentration. Which was saying something since given that, like all of us, she had ADHD.

Once we got all the things we needed, I started walking Hayden through making it. "Okay first you wanna line the mug with the chocolate syrup." I instructed. She did so and added the syrup to the bottom of two mugs.

"Next we measure out the espresso." I added, which she did, making sure she tamped it down, and making two sets for both Satyrs. "And now we add the espresso to the mugs, then stir."

Hayden stirred the espresso in, making sure it was nice and mixed up. Then she pulled out the mint extract. Which I told her to add to it and stir. After this we took the milk that we had been heating and added it, creating some frothy leaf art on the surface of the drink, and finally we added the crumbled KitKat pieces.

The Apollo daughter handed the two satyrs their cups as they started drinking it. I waited as I saw Grover straight up chugged the sucker.

Gabe was a little more liberal about it, since he had had this before, he knew the best way to enjoy it was savoring it.

"So?" I asked.

Grover spoke first. "Dude that was unbehhhlievable!" He bleeted.

"Yeah, almost identical to Mrs. Peterman's." Gabe added.

I smirked. "Yeah, one of the perks of having a barista as a foster mom I guess." I chuckled.

Hayden made sure to copy the ingredients for the drink for the coffee tasting tonight, so I left to go see into the woods to kill time.

And to do that I decided to keep training, just my regular routine,three hundred pushups, two hundred sit ups, four hundred jumping jacks, five hundred chin ups, a hundred one handed handstand push ups (on each hand), fifty upside down crunches and two hundred squats.

Only difference now that I'm at camp, is that now some nymphs and dryads decided to sit on me while I do some of these exercises, now that may not seem like much, but that added weight causes my routine to be just as hard as if I doubled the amount I do.

But honestly? It really helped me get way more ripped than I was before, and I could feel myself just keep getting stronger. Not to mention it made it way easier to do the second part of my new routine, testing out my powers.

So far I can deflect, absorb, and smother the godly energy or powers of the miner demigods, and well as reflect any enhanced physical attacks and power charged long range attacks if I'm wielding Rebellion. But other than that I don't really have much else. Except maybe being able to absorb the life force of monsters, but that's only against the monsters so that's not too useful.

So I decided to keep trying to experiment, and I eventually learned something else I'm able to do, Darkness manipulation.

This allows me to basically use my own darkness and use it to do a lot, like use it as sort of armor, swallow anything I want, and when I have Rebellion with me I make duplicates of both it and myself.

Right now I was testing one of those skills out. "Alright, Blackout!" I said, using my darkness to swallow up a bolder in front of me, then I clenched my fist as the darkness closed around it and slowly start causing it to slowly get smaller until it disappeared, leaving a crater.

I smirked as I wiped my brow with a towel I brought and draped it over my shoulders and around my neck, I wasn't wearing a shirt right now so I was pretty sweaty. As I dried myself off I heard a snap from behind me.

Monsters were pretty common around here in the woods, at least the small ones. I turned in the direction of the noise and saw that it was Hellhound, and not one of the friendly ones.

"Ah For the love of-" I said as the dog pounced towards me, and I got Suppressor out and swatted it away like a fly with a clean blow to the head.

I knew that this thing isn't going down without a fight, and in the woods he had the advantage, so I high tailed it to the camp, and I burst through the woods and onto the capture the flag fields with the hound hot on my heels.

I ran and vaulted over a picnic table and narrowly getting my ass getting bitten off by the dog, and then pushed past everyone in my way.

"Out of my way, I got a hellhound on my ass!" I yelled as I got it towards the fighting pit. I turned and faced it, then I activated my new skill. "Blade double!" I yelled as I pulled out Rebellion and created seven copies of it.

The hellhound leaped into the air and he was right where I wanted him, so I sent the blades flying towards it and it was skewered seven different ways before it fell to the ground and turned to dust. Then it's life force went into my lungs.

"Heh." I chuckled.

Everyone then came towards me. "Dude! That was awesome!" Connor stole said.

"Yeah! You're like a monster hunter!" His brother added.

I heard that and smirked. "Yeah I guess I am."

After that fiasco we all sat down to s'mores and coffee later that night at the campfire, and my coffee concoction was a huge success, hell even the Aphrodite cabin (who are pretty picky) liked it. That made me really glad.

But my mind kept drifting back to what the Stoll brothers said as I ate my third s'more and sang along as we sung the camp song. Me, a monster hunter?...That actually sounded pretty cool. I liked the sound of that.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: I (Accidentally) Piss off Camp Jupiter.**

After I killed that hellhound who chased me yesterday, I had decided then and there that I'd become a monster hunter. My powers were basically made for the job so that was a plus, and not to mention everyone who usually did monster control duty was already spread thin so they needed all the help they could get.

Right now I was sitting in the mess hall with Percy and the others, while Hayden and some other kid from the Apollo cabin, Will, tended to my most recent wounds from a fight with a particularly nasty Manticore, who I just barely was able to kill with my Staff. And it was not as fun as it sounds, trust me.

"So why exactly didn't you use Rebellion against the manticore again?" Percy asked.

I rolled my eyes as I downed by fifth shot glass of liquid ambrosia, which was supposed to help with healing, but apparently had a lessened effect on me compared to Demigods.

"Because kelp for brains, using Rebellion for too long too many times causes too much strain on my body, not to mention it'd make me become too reliant on it and my powers won't grow naturally." I said, hissing in pain as Will dabbed a stinging disinfectant on a claw mark on my arm.

"Sorry." Will said as he wrapped bandages around the cut after placing gauze on it.

My previous statement seemed to shut Percy up, but seemed to have piqued the interest of Annabeth, who was right next to him, lucky me…

"So in other words you can only use its enhancing capabilities sparingly?" She asked.

I nodded with a sharp 'ow' as Hayden tightened the bandages around my head, then proceeded to move to my other arm.

"Still think you should consider upgrading your bo-staff." Nico pointed out. "I mean, no offense but blunt force trauma doesn't exactly work on all monsters."

That nearly set me off, what? Did he think I didn't know that? "No one asked you shorty, so but out." I growled, taking yet another shot of liquid ambrosia, which finally took effect on my bruised ribs.

Only for Will to take it away. "That's enough. If you have too much of this, you will turn to dust, Demiprimordial or not."

I just sighed and held my sides in pain. "Whatever." I let the two finish up as Hayden left me a cup of lavender honey iced coffee she made for me to drink.

After that, with Percy's help I took my drink and we both slowly limped to the Poseidon cabin, where Percy sat me in my bunk and fixed my pillow for me.

"T-thanks." I wheezed, trying not to talk too much.

"Anytime. I'll let you get some rest, Chiron said he'd swing by after his run so just sit tight." The black head told me.

I looked at him. "Don't have much of a choice do I?" I then coughed pretty hard after saying that. "Where are you going?"

"To the gate, we're expecting visitors from camp Jupiter, our sister camp." Percy explained.

I took a sip of my iced coffee. The name did sound familiar, I think Piper mentioned that her boyfriend went to camp Jupiter and tended to visit regularly. Pretty sure his name was…

"Jason." I ended up finishing my thoughts out loud.

The son of the sea looked at me in confusion. "Huh?"

I blinked for a second, realizing what I just said and cleared my throat (which caused some serious pain) before continuing. "...piper mentioned she had a boyfriend from camp Jupiter, his name was Jason...right?" I asked.

Percy nodded. "Yeah, Jason Grace, old friend of mine. Blonde, blue eyes, has a scar on his lip, and sometimes wears glasses."

I chuckled. "How'd he get the scar?"

"Dunno, never asked. Piper might know though." He replied. "Well when you feel better, come say hi to everyone."

I drank more of my coffee as I laid back in my bed. "Sure, will do…"

I slowly woke up at the sound of something clacking on the floor of the cabin, I turned on my side and saw it was Chiron, I groaned and yawned but then winced in pain from the sudden movement.

"Hey Chiron." I rasped, my throat was dry, so I took a swallow of my drink, which had watered down a tad.

"No, please, stay there, there's no need to move. You are recovering after all." The centaur told me.

I groaned as he walked in, ducking around the door. "Fuuuck me!" I groaned as I felt a headache coming on. "Where's Advil when you need it?"

Chiron rummaged through his saddle bags and pulled out a two pack of Advil. "Here you are, Nigel."

I took the pills and washed them down with my drink. "Thanks…"

Chiron closed his bag and then looked at me. "Nigel, I don't mean to pry, but why are you throwing yourself into these dangerous situations?"

I looked up at the ceiling for a second, then closed my eyes. "Well, my powers are pretty well made for killing monsters, so I figured I'd give it a shot."

He was quiet for a moment, before he placed a hand on my bandaged leg. "I understand that you wish to help the others and gain their trust, but you should know that you don't have to constantly put your life in danger to do it. You don't have to prove yourself to everyone."

I let out a shaky sigh. "Alright, Whatever."

Chiron nodded and then left without another word. I sat there for a couple more minutes before drinking the rest of my coffee, then I noticed that there was a set of crutches next to the bed.

'_Must be from the Apollo cabin.' _I thought as I sat up. Deciding to try and get myself moving i slowly got down from my bunk, each movement making me feel even more sore and uncomfortable. And then grabbed the crutches once i got to the bottom. Then I hobbled my way to the mess hall to get something to eat.

Once I got there I saw several different demigods in purple shirts who contrasted the usual sea of orange Camp Half Blood shirts. Which I assumed was the kids from Camp Jupiter.

As the crutches made a clicking noise on the floor the room fell silent and everyone turned to where I was, which really wigged me out.

Pretty much everyone from Camp Half Blood gave me looks of concern as I hobbled to my usual seat, while everyone from camp Jupiter looked at me in a mixture of curiosity and somehow, pitty.

I sat down at my usual seat with Percy and the others as a guy with blonde hair introduced himself.

"Hey, So you're Nigel right? The monster Hunter?" He asked.

"Yeah." I nodded.

"Cool, I'm Jason, Son of Jupiter, or Zeus." He told me as I shook his hand.

I was pretty surprised, but I guess I should've seen it coming. "Cool." I replied.

"So, I heard you fought a Manticore. That's pretty cool." Jason said, trying to make conversation.

I just laid my head down. "If by cool you mean a sure way for my to get my body pulverized like a piece of choice veil, then yeah, it was cool."

This caused the boy to cringe. "Yikes, sorry." He apologized.

"Forget about it." I said, head still down.

Then I heard another person sit down. I didn't bother to see who it was, but I knew it was a girl based on the sound of her voice.

"Jason, why are you trying to talk to this boy? It's obvious he's ignoring you." The voice said to Jason.

"He wasn't ignoring me Reyna, besides, he's obviously not in a very talkative mood right now, so cut him some slack." Jason told the person.

"Really? Why? Because he's in pain? Seems like a poor excuse." 'Reyna' said.

_That _pissed me off like you wouldn't believe. Though that could have been because of the fact I was still sore as hell. "You do realize I can still hear you, right?" I grumbled with my head still down, _trying _to ward off another headache.

"Oh, I'm sorry, it looked to me like you were asleep." Reyna said in a sarcastically stoic tone.

I cracked one eye open and looked up, the girl I saw was pretty smokin to me, real easy on the eyes, kinda reminded me of Wonder Woman almost. But she also looked like she was the stoic 'slow to trust' type. Which was the _last _thing I needed right now.

"Well obviously I'm not sweet cheeks, so would ya mind shutting up? My head is killing me and you aren't exactly helping things." I said without really thinking, that's one problem I have, when I'm in a bad condition or am sick or really injured, I tend to not have a filter, which I swear is gonna be the death of me some day.

The girl just stared at me with a glare that could have cut me in half if it were a sword, but I didn't care, I was so pissed off that I just gave her my best 'piss off' glare with my one open eye and just went back to laying my head down.

That's when I heard the distinct sound of a sword being drawn before I heard Reyna speak again. "Get up. You just made me mad, and now, you're gonna pay." She growled.

I groaned again and as I banged my head on the table. What did I just get myself into?!


	8. Chapter 8

**Dear readers, please note: there will be POV changes in this chapter. thank you.**

**Chapter 8: I duel an Amazon**

I sat there as I stared down the blade that Reyna held in my face, I was honestly too preoccupied with the splitting migraine that has pounding through my head like a gong to really grasp just what this situation was leading to, but at this point? I honestly didn't give a rat's ass.

I just rubbed my head with one hand and clutched my aching ribs with the other as I groaned. Taking some pain pills I got up and got to her eye level, oddly enough we were the same height.

I was still sore as hell but thanks to the Advil and some sleep I was finally able to at least walk. I looked Reyna right in the eye and said the first thing that popped into my head in response.

"Bring it on Wonder Woman." I said, which made her give me a weird look. "What?"

"Did you just call me Wonder Woman?" She said, lowering her sword.

"Yeah." I nodded.

"Why?" She questioned further.

"Because you look like an amazon." I said bluntly.

She seemed to be amused by this for some reason. "How very perceptive of you. Yes, I am actually an amazon."

I probably should've been surprised, but I wasn't, honestly nothing really surprised me much anymore.

Reyna smirked. "I Don't know why, but I think I'm going to end up liking you, Nigel Jager. Tell you what. We'll continue this little duel challenge tomorrow when you're rested, seeing as that you are already beaten rather badly, and if you win, we'll call this even."

Most people would probably be relieved out of their minds by this news, but not me, I honestly just saw this as an inconvenience being pushed back a few hours. But if this meant it could be over as soon as possible? I'm all for it.

I looked at her and nodded. "Yeah. I can do that."

"Good." Reyna smirked.

After this fiasco everything settled down and I finally was able to get some food into my stomach. Which really helped my body start to heal. I also got to know the Jupiter kids a little more, which really helped defuse any awkwardness that was lingering because of the whole duel challenge thing. Which was pretty good.

But that was all pretty much chased out of my head pretty quickly, mainly because my mind kept on coming back to how cool Reyna seemed to be, well cool as in cool headed that is. And yes I would be lying if another reason I kept looking at her was because of how drop dead gorgeous she looked.

Ya know how I said she looked like Wonder Woman? Well I was half right, she's about twice as hot. As she looked about sixteen, with piercing black eyes and glossy black hair worn in a single braid. She also had a regal and beautiful face of what seemed to be Hispanic descent, and had a gaze as if she could take on any challenge.

Again, hot as hell. And her personality definitely added to her overall appeal. However, like all of those too good to be true girls there was a catch…

"Wait, So you're a what now?" I asked.

"I'm a huntress of Artemis, which makes me Immortal, unless I die in battle or break my vow and fall in love." She said.

That certainly got my attention, mainly because that's one hell of a loophole. "Wait, can't Artemis just remove those emotions from you guys so that doesn't happen? I mean she is a goddess after all." I said.

This caused the amazon to roll her eyes. "If she did that it would go against free will, something that even she won't abide by. Besides, she tried that at least once and it was met with quick retaliation from Aphrodite and Zeus."

I winced, that does not sound pretty. "In what case?" I asked.

"Hippolitus." Reyna told me.

I nodded, then laid my head down on my arms as I kept eye contact. "Okay...but still you gotta admit it's a pretty flimsy rule, I mean if it allows for that big of a loophole."

Reyna chuckled. "Yes, I suppose you're right."

(Piper POV)

I watched Nigel and Reyna continue to talk and I couldn't help but chuckle, which was noticed by Jason who leaned over towards me.

"What's so funny Pipes?" He asked.

I sighed, shaking my head, of course he didn't notice. "Just how Nigel and Reyna are getting along with each other after ya know…"

"Nearly killing each other?" He finished.

"Yeah." I nodded.

Jason looked at the two, then back to me. "I'll admit, it is surprising, I mean you know how Reyna is."

"Yeah, and it nearly pales in comparison to how Nigel is. When he got here he always seemed to hold most of us at arms distance, keeping to himself mostly, at least until Percy started warming up to him." I said.

"Who'd blame him? He's the first Demi primordial in existence and is the Son of the same primordial that tried to kill us, with all that and the initial hostility that came after, I'd get why he'd want to distance himself." Jason agreed with a nod.

I sighed as I laid my head on his shoulder. "So, you think Nigel has a crush on Reyna?"

Jason was quiet for a second before responding. "Hard to say, I mean I'm not a daughter of Aphrodite like you so I can't really tell. But I'd say there's probably a couple seeds of one in there somewhere."

I smiled as I watched everyone laugh and have fun, Reyna and Nigel among them. "And if I know my mom, those seeds will probably sprout."

(Nigel POV, later that night.)

I decide to go to bed later after getting some food in me, funnily enough having all those conversations with everyone took my mind off of how much I felt like total crap, which made me feel way better.

I hobbled on back to the Poseidon cabin when I saw someone or rather three someones were waiting for me there, it was two guys. One was Chiron, the other I recognized was Mr. D, and the other...I had no idea.

The reason why I even recognized Mr. D was because he's kinda hard to miss in a crowd. Mr. D has a chubby face, a red nose and curly hair so black, it looks purple. He had watery, blue, bloodshot eyes (probably from drinking). He usually wears tiger-striped (or leopard-spot) Hawaiian shirts and purple running shoes. Or as Percy puts it: he looked like cherub who had grown up in a trailer park.

I personally hated the guy, he always got my name wrong and always pissed me off. So seeing him in my way to a good night's sleep was not a welcome sight.

The other guy I didn't recognize. He had black hair, a neatly trimmed black beard, a deep tan, and sea-green eyes (kinda like Percy), that were surrounded by sun-crinkles that told one he was prone to smiling. His hands are also scarred like an old-time fisherman's. The guy had on Birkenstocks (leather sandals), khaki Bermuda shorts, a Tommy Bahama shirt with coconuts and parrots all over it (or any other Hawaiian shirt), and a cap decorated with fishing lures which says "Neptune's Lucky Fishing Hat."

It took me a minute to realize who it might be as I arrived to where they were. "Hey Chiron, What's up Mr. D-bag? Who's the new guy?"

Mr. D went a shade of puce, he _hated _it when I called him that. "Watch your tongue Jagger." He said.

That pissed me off, I can't stand when people mispronounce my name. "I keep telling you: it's _Jager,_ YAY-ger! As in the German word for hunter. Not Jagger, I'm not a dancer!" I snapped.

The man beside Mr. D chuckled at our argument as he fiddled with a fishing hook he had between his fingers. "You certainly don't let anyone push you around don't ya?"

I looked at him and then slowly nodded. "Pretty much, yeah." I then looked at Chiron who cleared his throat.

"Nigel, this is Poseidon, god of the sea, and Percy's father." The centaur told me.

I slapped myself in the head, how did I not realize that sooner? I then decided to try and make a good impression and held my hand out.

"Hi, I'm Nigel, I'm uh..sorta Percy's new roommate." I said, trying to be cordial.

Poseidon smiled as he shook my hand. "Yes, I've heard. Percy's told me about you, like how you recently fought a manticore with just a staff and managed to win."

I looked at my injuries. "Yeah, but I'm pretty sure I took more of a beating than it did."

The man looked me over and nodded. "You enjoying yourself here?"

"Mostly." I nodded.

"You and Percy are getting along I presume?" The god asked.

"Yeah, I'd say so." I replied, moving past them so I could get into the cabin.

Poseidon then sat down in a chair as I got myself into my bunk. "So why exactly are you guys here?" I asked.

The god of the sea seemed a little nervous, but then sighed. "I'll admit I'd be lying if I didn't say I came here because I was worried about Percy rooming with a Demi primordial, especially a son of Tartarus."

"I wouldn't have believed you if you said you weren't." I replied, fiddling with Suppressor in its bracelet form.

Poseidon nodded. "Right. But, Chiron has told me nothing but good things about you, as has Percy. And after meeting you in person I can see that you don't seem at all malevolent."

"Gee, thanks." I said, it kinda seemed like he was patronizing me but at least it was a complement.

"What I'm trying to say is, my son is usually never wrong when it comes to the character of others so, I just wanted to see if you were like he said you were."

I looked at him, he seemed sincere enough to me. "Well...I'm not sure what he's told you, but I can tell you one thing, I'm gonna make sure that just because my dad may have tried to destroy Olympus, doesn't mean that I will."

"That's good to hear." Poseidon smiled as he got up. He, Chiron and Mr. D then left to go find the other campers.

I laid there in bed and sighed. I was definitely going to prove I was on their side, no matter what.

The next morning I woke up and my injuries had finally healed. That ambrosia really does work. So I went to the camp stadium where Reyna was waiting, just like she said. She was tapping her foot on the ground the whole time.

"You're late." She said, obviously annoyed.

I just sighed, the others weren't kidding, she was strict. "Overslept. Now let's get this over with already."

She unsheathed her sword while I got out Suppressor, it had been feeling really heavy after that fight with the Manticore so I figured I better use it to see what was up.

And without hesitation the amazon girl struck first, causing me to have to block and parry with the middle of my staff, causing her to stagger to the side, which gave me an opening to deliver a clean blow to her cranium.

The others in the stand cringed will a collective 'ooh' as Reyna regained her footing, a small trickle of blood going down her face from where I struck.

"Ow." She said curtly.

I smirked as I twirled my staff. "Give up, Ramírez?" I taunted.

This caused her to glare at me as she yelled and started swinging her blade around, I was barely able to block or deflect most of them, and I even got a slash right across the chest.

I staggered back as I used my staff to help keep myself up, blood dripping from my wound and my shirt ruined.

"Aw come on this was my favorite shirt!" I yelled. I was really mad now, and the pain of the cut and the blood loss clouded my mind as I started swinging my staff in continuously more complex maneuvers and kept bashing Reyna with the blocky ends, causing some serious bruising.

This was met by an even more ferocious flurry of attacks from her and she got me in the sides, arms and even slashed me in the back.

I stood there hunched over as I gripped Suppressor in my hands, breathing heavily, blood running down both my arms and dripping onto the ground from my hands. I glared at the girl as she panted, clearly becoming exhausted, who just pointed her sword at me and said.

"Give up?" She taunted with a smirk.

I didn't even get a chance to respond because I then adjusted my grip on my staff and all the weight I had felt from Suppressor had gone from it, into me and everything went black.

(Everyone POV)

As Nigel stood there he adjusted his grip on his staff by twisting his hands in different directions and then, there was suddenly a loud and deep clicking sound from the staff as it started to glow red, and a plume of black air went from it, and into Nigel's lungs, causing him to inhale and his eyes became pitch black, his wounds all healing rapidly as he stood up straight.

The dark mist then swirled around the staff as it suddenly started to change shape. It now resembled a large double sided spear, one end resembled a harpoon, while the opposite end was shaped like an axe blade.

Nigel twirled the newly formed weapon as his power now surged even higher. Gripping it with both hand he reeled back and grinned.

"Sorry Amazon! But I can't hold back!" He yelled as he swung the back end with the ax blade clear around causing a large amount of force to gather which cleaved through the other side of the stadium and some of the trees outside.

The force of the air blast sent Reyna flying back and into a wall. Nigel was about to swing the spearhead around but hit only air and ended up taking a chunk of the stadium instead.

This last move seemed to take a lot out of the boy, because he then dropped his weapon and fell on his face in exhaustion. Leaving everyone in the area to become shocked and surprised about what just happened.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: Suppressor's secret revealed **

I woke up after my blackout with a splitting headache. I couldn't remember what happened or how I blacked out, all I knew was that I blacked out and now I had a headache.

I slowly rose myself up as I spat dirt out of my mouth. Did I lose the duel? I sat up and looked around, part of the stadium was damaged and it looked like a row or two of trees had been sliced in half like butter.

I looked at where the others were, they were helping Reyna, who apparently was still conscious before me, which meant I definitely lost the duel.

I reached over for Suppressor which was right next to me, but stopped when I saw how different it looked. I grabbed it and looked it over as I got up, it looked like Halberd, the weapon of Galand of Truth from the Seven Deadly Sins, only it was all silver.

Percy then came running up to me, an extremely worried look plastered all over his face. "Nigel, What in Hades was that?"

I looked at my weapon in my hands, then at him. I was really at a loss for words. "I-I-I-I Don't know…" I finally managed to say. "I don't know…"

That's when I noticed something else, Suppressor wasn't heavy anymore, and all my wounds from the fight before my blackout were gone, even the ones that hadn't healed all the way from my fight with the Manticore.

I then made Suppressor transform into its bracelet form, then turned and grabbed Percy by the shoulders. "What...what happened?" I asked.

As Percy lead me to the mess hall along with the others, he explained what had happened, how I had somehow released something from inside Suppressor that not only healed my wounds and boosted my power, but caused it to change shape.

I sat there as I fiddled with Suppressor in its bracelet form, which now had four spikes jutting along the rim. I looked over at Reyna who was having her wounds tended to, which were luckily all fixable.

I looked down again, I felt horrible, and not because my headache was only just now going away, but that I had somehow lost control of my own body and almost killed someone.

I heard Chiron come in (this was because I could hear his hooves), and Mr. D not far behind. I looked up at Chiron, expecting to see anger all over his face, but instead I only saw concern, and worry.

I looked down at the floor again, unable to bring myself to look at him. "I'm sorry…" I whispered.

Chiron put a hand on my shoulder. "Stand up." He told me.

I rose up to his level as he looked down at me, bringing me in for a comforting hug. Which really made me feel better. I rubbed my face into him as I slowly felt myself tear up.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I should've, I could've-" I said as I actually started to cry, which was something I never really did, like at all.

Chiron grabbed my shoulders, then made me look at him. "I know, And I understand. But you shouldn't blame yourself, your actions were not exactly all your own." He told me.

I wiped my eyes as I looked at him, confused as to what he was saying. "What?" I questioned. Chiron had me sit down as he pawed the ground to get everyone's attention.

It was by this point that I noticed that everyone had ended up here. Guess they all wanted to know what caused my lash out just as much as I did. They all looked either concerned, worried, or even scared.

Chiron brought my arm up to his where he could see my bracelet and then nodded. "Would you mind showing me your staff?" He asked.

I nodded and made Suppressor change form, then handed it to him. The centaur examined Suppressor and then his previously puzzled look turned to one of surprise and intrigue.

He was quiet for a few more seconds before clearing his throat. "Interesting." He nodded.

"What?" I questioned.

"It seems like this weapon also seems to have a sort of enchantment put on it, similar to your dagger's, only this one stores the life force of the monsters you kill, and can release it to give you a temporary boost in all of your attributes. Only it comes at the cost of draining your own stamina greatly." Chiron explained. "Which would also explain your outburst, your mind was simply overwhelmed by the sudden flow of power and it clouded your perception and judgment."

Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief. So this wasn't because of my dad trying to take me over. I sighed in relief as well.

Chiron nodded. "So I don't think we need to worry about you being taken over, although that definitely is a concern." He then handed Suppressor back to me as I changed it back. "As for its new form, I'm not entirely sure what caused that to occur."

This left a big question unanswered, but it wasn't that important right now. I then looked at Mr. D, who seemed pretty aggravated at me, though honestly I didn't care, I liked pissing him off anyway.

"This may not have been entirely your doing, Jagger, but make no mistake this will not go unanswered." He said. "Therefore, you'll be taking care of cleaning up the stadium until it's manageable enough for repairs, clear?"

I growled at him for calling me the wrong name again, but nodded anyway, if not for anything else than to get this over with.

The two then left as everyone poured into the hall, asking me how I got that boost, how I was feeling, if I was okay (probably because they saw me cry), and so on. But I was more concerned about Reyna.

I walked over to where she was as Will finally finished patching her up. I scratched the back of my head nervously. "Hey, Reyna, listen I just wanted to say I'm sorry for what happened earlier." I told her.

She looked at me and then she seemed to smile ever so slightly. "You don't have to apologize, you weren't in control, what happened wasn't your fault."

"I know but still-" But she stopped me mid sentence.

"No buts, I'm not going to hold a grudge. Especially since you went all out and didn't hold back, I may have won that duel by default, but if you hadn't blacked out that probably wouldn't have been the case." She told me. "Besides, I would have shown you the exact same courtesy. So, let's just call things even and leave it at that, alright?" She asked, holding out her hand.

I smiled as I nodded and shook her hand. "Sure."

And so after that, the rest of Camp Jupiter left to go back to their own camp. Except Jason, Hazel, and Frank, who decided to stay. Reyna said she had to go see Artemis and the other hunters so she left too.

Not gonna lie I was kinda bummed, but I knew she had other priorities so I just went on. I then went back to the Poseidon cabin with Percy and we both started getting ready for bed.

I climbed into my bunk and laid down. "Hey Percy?" I said.

"Yeah?" He answered.

"Do you, do you think that my blackout could've been because of my dad, ya know, Tartarus?" I asked, pulling up my blankets.

Percy was quiet for a second. "Maybe. But you shouldn't worry about that. You've got us now, we'll help you no matter what happens."

"You...you'd really do that?" I asked in slight surprise.

"Of course, we're friends aren't we?" Percy said.

I chuckled. "Yeah. Yeah I guess we are."

**So readers, here we are. please let me know what you thought of today's chapter and pm me with any suggestions. PS, I'll be holding a poll on my profile page to see if you guys like the potential ship of Reyna x Nigel. so be sure to go vote.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey readers, just so you know the poll i mentioned last chapter is up so please go vote. also i should state that Son of Tartarus takes place before Trials of **

**Apollo. also I am also holding a Fan art contest as of right now, for anyone who can make the best artwork of Nigel, him wi his weapons, ship art of him and Reyna or a scene from the story. the winner or winners will have their art linked to in a future chapter. to enter send me a link to the artwork via PM**

**Chapter 10: Nico pushes my buttons, I get an idea.**

Nico Di Angelo, Son of Hades, pushes all the wrong buttons for me. And not in a good way, I mean like in a 'I wanna rip his little head off of his scrawny shoulders' kinda way.

Reason why? He's an annoying little punk who either refuses to be at least hospitable for the sake of pissing me off, or just weirds me out with all his 'demigod of death' mojo. I still have nightmares about the time he brought a cat skeleton back to life, which he now keeps as a _pet_!

Yeah, let _that_ pretty picture sink in. But that's not the worst of it, the kid also shadow traveled me to the middle of a graveyard, at night (at midnight!), in the middle of a rainstorm! Knowing damn well that I'm terrified of graveyards.

But besides all that he just generally creeps me out. The reason why, I have no idea, he just does for some reason. And of course I'd say that the feeling of resentment is mutual on his end because he does exactly go out of his way to make things any better (well neither do I, but hey frickin details am I right?)

This all of course came to a head today in the most explosive way possible, so much so that I'm still trying to piece together what exactly happened to lead up to it. Now, let me set the scene for you.

A couple of days had passed since the whole fiasco with my duel with Reyna and me losing control and everyone was pretty scared at first (but honestly why wouldn't they be?) but then they actually started going out of their way to be nice to me. I honestly don't know why, but something told me it was probably because of how I had cried afterwards and how terrible I felt.

All I know is that I was both flattered and confused, though I didn't want anyone to pity me so I told them I was fine. But of course the more persistent ones saw right through that play, like for example.,.

"I told you already! I'm fine, I don't need your pity or want it!" I snapped at Percy and Annabeth, who were trying for the millionth time to try and get me to open up to them.

Annabeth, true to form, was having none of that. How could I tell? Simple, Athena kids showed what they were thinking with their facial expressions than their mouths ever could.

"Oh get over yourself. Us trying to be good and considerate friends is not the same as pitying you." She stated, crossing her arms.

Percy meanwhile, nodded in agreement with what his girlfriend was saying and put a hand on my shoulder. "Annabeth's right Nigel, we're just trying to help, you're our friend, and when a friend's in trouble, it's our job to help."

This caused me to bury my face in my hands. "You guys really want to know what's bothering me?" I asked.

"That's exactly it." Jason chimed. "Trust me, it helps."

I looked at the sun of Jupiter and sighed. "I almost killed Reyna, and I could've really hurt everyone else. All because I wasn't keeping my powers in check. Do you even know how that kind of guilt feels?" I said.

I saw Piper give Jason a look I couldn't understand, then he nodded and looked back at me.

"Yes, I do actually." Jason said.

I looked at him in confusion. "What?"

"We had a friend, Leo Valdez, he was a Son of hephaestus who had the gift of Fire." Jason explained.

"Only it soon proved to be more of a curse." Piper added. "When he was little he lost control of his fire, and burned his house down, with his mom inside. Or at least that's what he thought."

"Huh?" I asked.

"Turns out it was caused by one of Gaea, he was only trying to defend him and it went wrong, but that didn't stop Leo from feeling immense guilt for something that wasn't even his fault. But he eventually got over it and by doing that, he actually became one of the strongest demigods ever." Jason said.

I sat back as this sank in. I had heard a lot about this Leo guy from kids from the Hephaestus cabin, but every time I asked where he was, I always got the same answer, cold hard silence, like it was a touchy subject or something.

"I've heard about that guy. Do you guys know where he is?" I asked Piper.

She looked away. "Well…"

"We're not sure, he disappeared after the final battle with the Giants, and no one's seen or heard from him since." Jason interjected.

"A lot of people think he's dead." Nico said finally, having been dead silent the entire time (heh, see what I did there?). "But I know for a fact he's not."

"And you know this, how?" I asked, getting pretty aggravated at the guys tone, doesn't he know how to read the room?

"I'm a Son of Hades, I'm able to sense when someone's dead, dying, or about to die. And Leo, he's none of those things." He said, I couldn't tell if he was being smug about it or not.

"And you neglected to tell the people who thought he was dead this, why?" I said, glaring at him.

"I didn't 'neglect' to tell them. Some just prefer to think he's dead, rather than have to wonder where he could be, I dunno, must be part of their grieving process." The Son of hades shrugged.

I kinda saw where he was coming from, I had known a few people who had done that as part of their grieving process. I could understand that, even if I couldn't stand Nico, but at least he did understand how people were when grieving that is.

Things were quiet for a few minutes, until something came floating around us in the air (which was noticed by Jason), it was dirty a slightly burnt envelope, which blew through the air until it came to our face levels. Which then lead to it blowing into my face, causing me to nearly fall over.

"Gah! Son of a-" I said as I pulled the envelope off my face as I looked at the address. My eyes nearly went out of my skull when I saw who had sent it.

"G-g-g-guys, th-thi-this letter it's-it's from.." I tried to say as I shakily handed it to Percy, who took it and looked, looking just as surprised as I was.

"Its from Leo." Percy finally stated. The others all became just as shocked as I was as Percy opened up the letter, which turned out to be a holographic one.

The hologram showed an image of a guy around our age who looked like a Latino Santa's elf (is that racist? Seems racist). He was around 5'6, about the same height as Piper, with a diminutive stature, and a slim and relatively scrawny build. He also had curly black hair, dark brown eyes, pointy ears, a cheerful, elf-like face.

The message started to play as the guy, who turned out to definitely be Leo, told us that he was alive and was traveling back to Camp Half Blood with someone named calypso and said to have tacos ready for him when he got back, there was also some spots that were full of static.

As the message ended everyone seemed to be a mixture of annoyed, mad as hell, happy, and at the verge of tears as they all hugged each other.

I couldn't help but smile, I couldn't put my finger on why, but it made me happy to see them happy. Then that's when I had an idea, a wonderful, awesome idea.

"Guys. I think I just had an idea." I said.

Everyone looked at me. "What?"

"What if I went on a quest to help Leo get back to Camp?" I asked.

The others all looked at each other, then back at me, looking at me like I lobsters crawling out of my ears when I mentioned the word 'quest'. I got the feeling that quests weren't like what I heard about.

"You sure?" Percy asked. "I mean, going on your first quest is a pretty big step."

I smirked as pumped my fist in the air. "Oh I'm sure."

That's when I heard Nico scoff. "You must have a Death wish."

That was the last straw for me, I growled and vaulted over the picnic table and jumped at him. "Why you little-_come here!_"

"There they go again." Annabeth sighed.

."I'll get the first aid." Percy said as he left.

"How many times is that this week? Three?" Piper asked.

Jason shrugged. "I don't know, I stopped counting."

Little did I know, though, that my first quest would start a domino effect that would cause a lot more trouble than any of us could have anticipated.


	11. Review corner

**REVIEW CORNER**

.304: review 1. i explained this in a pm i sent. Review 2: imagine if you almost killed someone, wouldn't you be distraught?

Cdaines: thanks.


	12. Chapter 11

Here**yo are readers, the first chapter of the first actual story arc. also: **

**realfan16: **Argh plz answer this in PM. It's kinda heart breaking to expect a new chapter but then stare at pointless information. Good work with the story btw ; )

**answer: review corner is so I'll be doing every tenth chapter to answer questions and give myself more time to finish the next actual chapter. its so i don't get burnt out.**

**Chapter 11: I start my first quest.**

After the others had broken up me and Nico, Percy took me to Chiron and Mr. D, where we all showed him Leo's letter I told them both my idea to go on my first quest to bring him back.

Chiron put the letter down and stroked his chin. "And you're sure you want to do this? Quests can be tricky business, even the most mundane can turn deadly without warning."

"He's right." Percy chimed in. "I speak from experience."

I looked at both of them and nodded. "I'm sure. This is my chance to do what every demigod strives to do, be a hero. I mean everyone here has done at least one quest during their first time here, so why can't I?"

Mr. D seemed amused at that statement. "He has you there Chiron."

The centaur sighed as he shook his head. "I know, I know." He then looked at me, placing a hand on my shoulder. "I won't stop you from doing something you want to do, just try to be careful."

"Chiron please, I hunt monsters as a hobby for Zeus sake, how bad can it be?" I laughed. This caused him to chuckle, then I along with him and Percy went to Elizabeth's cave, where I was left alone with the ginger headed oracle.

"Okay so how does this work exactly?" I asked.

Elizabeth sat down in a chair and then gestured for me to sit across from her. "Simple, I'll go into a trance and tell you your prophecy." She then handed me a pen and a small notepad. "Feel free to write it down just in case."

"Okay…" I nodded, holding both ready.

She was silent for a minute or two, before her eyes suddenly started to glow green as an odd green smoke surrounded her. Then she looked at me and spoke in an echoey tone.

"**Listen, Son of Tartarus and hear my words. Your journey will be one through both sky and land, but beware the sea. To find who you seek you must take two with you, one to guide and one to defend. The first is who knows the hammer better than the hammer knows himself. The other, a calm minded hunter who's reason and strategy know no equal. Take them and take head, for if you take this burden on alone, the darkness will swallow you whole.**" She said before returning to normal, seemingly woozy and on the verge of a headache. Boy could I relate to that.

The redhead took some aspirin and then looked at me. "Did you get all that?" She asked.

I looked at my notepad again. "Yep. Word for word….hold on, spelled something wrong." I started fixing things as Percy and Chiron came in.

Percy looked over my shoulder. "Let me guess, got the spelling wrong?" He joked.

"Yeah, damn dyslexia." I said as I finished fixing things. Percy took a second to look it over, probably because of his own dyslexia. He then looked even more confused.

"One who knows the hammer more than he does himself?" Percy read aloud. "What does that mean? Is it talking about a kid of hephaestus?"

"No, that's too obvious…" I stated, I scratched my head for a second before it hit me. "I think it's referring to Leo. The hammer is Leo, so someone who knows him better than he does is-"

"One of his friends." Chiron finished. "Very good Nigel."

Now that I knew the first person I needed I bolted out of the cave and ran down towards the common area, where I bumped into Frank Zhang, a Son of Mars. I bounced off him like a marble off of a waterbed.

"Sorry Frank. Hey you seen Jason anywhere." I said as I got up after falling to the ground.

"I think he's over at the Zeus cabin." Frank told me, pointing in the direction of the Zeus cabin.

"Thanks." I said, dashing off towards the Zeus cabin. As I made my way up the stairs I saw Jason was there, he was in the middle of sharpening his sword. "Jason! Thank the gods I found you!"

The son of Jupiter looked at me as I tried to catch my breath. "And you found me, boy you look winded." He said.

"I..need.. you..to come..on..this quest..with me...oh whoo!" I said, trying to catch my breath mid sentence.

"Really, how come?" The blonde asked as he set his sword and sharpening tools down next to his bed.

"The prophecy says I need to bring someone who knows Leo better than even he does himself...and who better to ask than his best friend?" I explained, sitting down on the white marble floor of the cabin.

Jason was quiet for a minute or two, I saw him look at a desk he had next to his bed, which had a picture of him, Piper and Leo on it. Then he looked at the floor before letting out a long sigh. "You're sure?" He asked.

I smiled as I nodded. "Positive. I'm one hundred percent sure that you're the man for the job."

That seemed to cheer him up, as he sat up with a smile on his face. "Okay then, looks like you got yourself a teammate."

I got up as I popped my back. "Okay, now I need to find the third and final member of our team."

"And who's that?" Jason asked.

I pulled out the prophecy and read it aloud. "A calm minded Hunter who's reason and strategy know no equal."

Jason's face immediately lit up. "I know just who to call."

"Who?" I asked.

"One of the best strategists I know. A great voice of reason, and she just so happens to be a Hunter of Artemis." Jason said, but then he smirked. "And you've already met."

It took me a second or two to put the clues together, which caused my face to heat up for some reason. "Don't tell me…"

Jason smiled as he pulled out a drachma from his pocket and walked out to the lake, the sun was shining off the water, making a rainbow effect on the surface. He gave the coin a toss and then spoke. "Oh Iris goddess of the rainbow, please accept show my offering and show me the Hunter of Artemis Reyna Ramírez-Arellano."

There was a brief flash of light before an image of her working on her weapons appeared.

A second or two later she turned and saw us, she ran over and I noticed that on her end we were appearing through a waterfall of some sort.

"Jason? Nigel? What's going on? Why are you sending me an Iris message?" She asked.

Jason gave me a nudge and I stumbled forward into her full view. I tried to clear my throat, but it wasn't really helping me.

"Uh, well actually I was the one who was trying to call you. I, uh, need your help with something. Something important." I explained.

That's when Jason finally decided to step in. "Our boy Nigel here just got his first quest, and it seems he needs to enlist the help of a Hunter of Artemis, particularly one with top notch strategy skills?" He directed the question part at me, all the while using his height advantage on me to ruffle my faux hawk.

"Yeah...yeah that's right." I nodded, shoving him off me. "My prophecy mentioned that I'd need a hunter who's an unmatched strategist."

Reyna was quiet for a moment. "I'll have to make sure that lady Artemis is alright with this. I'll get back to you in a second."

She left and we were left alone as I punched Jason in the stomach. "Dude! What the actual hell?!" I snapped at him as he laughed.

"Well I couldn't just let you embarrass yourself by stuttering the whole time now could I?" He asked.

"I-i was not stuttering!" I retorted.

"Sure you weren't." Jason chuckled.

I growled as I put my hands in my pockets. "Shut up, she's coming back now."

Reyna came back and looked like the conversation went well. "I spoke to lady Artemis and, after a little bit of convincing, she's allowed me to go with you on your quest."

I sighed in relief. "Good. Any idea why she didn't want you to go?"

"I believe her exact words were, 'A quest with not only a boy but a boy who's a son of Tartarus _and _one that nearly killed you? I don't think so." She explained.

"Great, so as it turns out I _did_ manage to piss off olympus." I groaned, then I looked back at her. "We'll meet you as soon as possible." I then turned to Jason. "Jason, you two decide on a meet up place, I'm gonna go get my gear."

The blonde nodded as I left, once I got to the Poseidon cabin I started rummaging around my stuff, looking for something I needed for this quest.

Percy, who was reading a copy of Olympus People magazine, looked at me in confusion. "Lose something?" He asked.

"Can't find my bag of holding." I answered, chucking a pair of pants across the room. "Chiron gave it to me a week ago and I can't find it. I need it for this quest."

"Is it a small black sack with tiny white stars on it?" Percy questioned.

"Yes!" I nodded.

Percy reached under his bed and pulled out a sack, which was my bag of holding, he then tossed it to me. "You dropped it last night."

"Thanks." I said, checking inside, everything was still there. "This is going to make the quest so much easier." I said as I tied the bag to my belt. Everything was ready, now my first quest as a hero, could begin.


	13. Chapter 12

**Hey ****what's up readers, sorry about the delay, had a family get together so my schedule was totally shot. but now I have the next chapter ready for you. also I was wondering if Tartarus ended up possessing Nigel's body, what do you think his design change would look the most like? Meliodas (possessed by the demon king) or Zeldris (possessed by the demon king)? these are from the Seven Deadly Sins Anime/Manga. please let me know in the reviews. also, the poll on my profile is still up so please go vote. **

**Cdaines: **well well well what do we have here? a reyna x jager

**Answer: so...do you like it?**

**Chapter 12: I meet my dad for the first time.**

Jason walked ahead of me as we started heading out of camp to meet up with Reyna, the rendezvous point we decided on was a halfway point between where the hunters were and Camp Half Blood. Just outside of New York City.

As we walked, I was trying to tie my bag of holding to my belt, which proved to be more difficult than I expected.

Jason noticed what I was and chuckled. "Need help there?" He asked.

"No no I can handle-ah! Got it!" I said as I finally tied it up. I continued walking as I started thinking about something that had been bothering me. "Hey Jason, mind if I ask you something?" I asked.

"Yeah?" The blonde replied.

"Ya know how Demigods sometimes have prophetic dreams or dreams where their parents talk to them?" I said.

"Yeah, we do." Jason nodded. "What? You have any lately?"

"No, that's just it, I haven't." I said, as I caused my chest to turn to shadow and pulled out Rebellion. "All I've had are blackouts. No dreams or visions."

The son of Jupiter took a moment before replying as I put Rebellion back where it was. Then he looked at me.

"Well, your dad is the personification of the abyss, maybe those blackouts were his way of talking to you, and you just weren't able to tell?" He suggested.

"Maybe." I shrugged. All this talk about my dad actually reminded me of something. "Hey, you ever sang the Camp campfire song?"

Jason smirked. "Yeah. Why? You sang it?"

"Yeah, did when we were around the fire drinking coffee, and you woulda loved what my verse was." I grinned.

(Flashback)

I sat around the fire as everyone was drinking the mocha coffee Hayden and I had made, as well as making a ton of s'mores.

That's when Conner Stole decided to say something. "Hey guys, why don't we sing the Camp campfire song?"

Everyone looked around as Percy chuckled. "It's been awhile since we sang it." He then looked at me as I took a bite of my s'mores. "But we did get a new friend recently so...sure, why not?"

As he cleared his throat, he signaled to the Apollo kids, who started playing. Then after that, the campers started to sing.

"Oh, things couldn't be worse when your parents run the universe! Oh things couldn't be worse when your parents run the universe!" They sang.

The stole brothers started off first. "Our Dad is Hermes, he messengers things, You'll know his sign by his shoes with those wings. We'd wait by the phone, but the phone never rings! Oh no! When your dad's a god, life can be tough. We met the guy once, and once was enough!"

"You ready Annabeth?" Percy asks.

Annabeth sighed. "Here we go again, alright. My mom's Athena. She's smart and she's wise. She's sworn off gluten and she's sworn off guys. But if she came to camp, it'd be a surprise. Oh no!

Then Percy and Piper joined in. "Oh No!"

Annabeth laughed as she continued. "Oh, and my stepmom, she hated me, and my dad worked all day, so I left Virginia and I ran away!"

I nearly died laughing. "Seriously?"

Percy then called. "Everybody!"

"Oh, things couldn't be worse when your parents run the universe! Oh things couldn't be worse when your parents run the universe!" The campers echoed.

Katie, a daughter of a Demeter went after that, and then Grover, Percy, Piper, Nico Hayden and Will did a duet and even Chiron sang. Which then only left…

"Hey Nigel, it's your turn!" Percy said.

I looked around as I saw everyone waiting. I wasn't much of a singer, but I figured. "What the hell? What's the worst thing that could happen?"

I cleared my throat as I let the words pour out. "My Dad's Tartarus, who would've known? He gave my mom cancer and left me alone. I honestly don't care if he calls me his own oh no!"

"Oh no!" Everyone joined in.

"But one thing's for sure, if we're ever alone, I'll knock him right down and break all his bones!" I finished.

"Oh, things couldn't be worse when your parents run the universe! Oh things couldn't be worse when your parents run the universe!" The campers sang.

"Oh but I don't care where my dad might be, as long as you guys are here with me!" I sang as we readied the final chorus.

"We don't care where our parents may be. As long as you are here with me, As long as you are here with me!" We all finished as we all started laughing.

(End of flashback)

As I finished retelling the story Jason was still laughing at what I had used as my verse. "You seriously said that?" He asked as he held his stomach.

"Well it was true." I said, shrugged.

We kept walking through the woods until we reached the main highway. And by this point my feet were killing me, so I decided to sit down.

"Tell me again why we didn't just use one of the Pegasus?" I asked as I sat down on a curb while Jason tried to hail us a cab.

"To keep a low profile. If being with Camp Jupiter and Camp Half Blood for this long has taught me anything, it's that just because it's easier doesn't mean it's the best way." He said as he finally managed to hail us a cab. The car came barreling down the road out of a green cloud of Mist, but as it pulled up I noticed it was a beat up old cab with Greek writing on the side. "It also taught me that the Mist may be effective at hiding things, but it isn't perfect."

As we got in Jason slipped in a good few drachmas in a coin slot and then told the drivers our destination in Greek, or maybe it was Latin, couldn't really tell.

That's when I realized just who in Hades was driving this rolling trash heap, it was three old ladies, very familiar looking old ladies. I face palmed as I realize who they were.

"Let me guess, the fates?" I asked as I quickly buckled in.

"Very perceptive of you Young man." The One in the driver's seat croaked as she started the car. "Now hold on!"

I felt myself get pushed into the tattered seat I was sitting in as the cab sped down the road. Jason was holding on for dear life as he looked at me.

"You knew?" He asked.

"Percy and Annabeth mentioned the fates drove a cab service when we were around the fire one night, and given that there's only three old hags to speak of in Greek mythology it wasn't hard to figure out!" I said as I tried not to let myself get slammed as we took a sharp turn at top speed.

"I heard that!" The third woman towards the end next to the passenger side door called.

"You better watch your tone boy!" The one in the middle warned.

"Well ex-CUSE me for telling the truth!" I said as we suddenly drove over went a speed bump and went flying into the air, before landing and causing my head to hit the roof. "Ow! Son of a-that hurt! You did that on purpose, didn't you?!"

The three women snickered as the insane asylum on four wheels continued to drive madly until we reached the place were we were supposed to meet Reyna, which was a turn off to New York City from upstate New York.

As soon as we stopped both me and Jason were both ejected from the car and onto the sidewalk. I slowly started to lift myself up as I shook my head to stop it from spinning, and that's when I noticed a brown high heeled boots in my line of vision.

"Are you going to get up? Or do you plan on staring at my shoes all day?" A familiar female voice asked from above me.

"Shit." I hissed, raising my head up as I saw it was Reyna, she was wearing the same purple Camp Jupiter shirt as Jason, as well as a brown zip up hoodie and a pair of light brown pants. "Hey Reyna, sorry we're late." I said as slowly got up and dusted myself off. "We had some, transportation issues." I hissed that last part as Jason got up and finished paying the old ladies.

Reyna chuckled, as if our misfortune was like a joke to her or something. "I can see that."

"Hey, you, Son of Tartarus!" The lady in the driver seat called to me.

I turned to face them and nearly upchucked, having to see that she had only one eye, which was hidden by an eye patch and the rest of them had blind glasses on. Gods they looked ancient as hell.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Remember what your prophecy says. Beware the sky and don't try to do everything alone, or that father of yours will make you wish you hadn't." She told me.

I was surprised that she knew what my prophecy said, and the fact that I was a Son of Tartarus. I sneered at them. "I'll keep that in mind." I then turned my back. "Oh and before I forget, if you happen to see or hear from my dad…" I added as I held up my middle finger. "Tell him I said to go to hell."

The ladies looked at each other and then rolled up the window of the car, before driving off wildly again. I turned to face Reyna and Jason who were giving me an expectant look.

"What?" I asked, not knowing what they wanted.

"What did they mean by the prophecy say to not try to do everything by yourself?" Reyna asked.

"Yeah, is there something you're not telling us?" Jason asked.

I sighed. I did _not _want to have to deal with this right now. "I'll explain it later. Reyna, did you find anything that can help us find out where Leo is?"

"Not much I'm afraid." She said, shaking her head. "I did hear however that a giant bronze dragon was seen flying just south east of Florida, near the keys."

"That's probably Festus." Jason noted.

I smiled, at least we had a lead, not a big one, but a good enough one to know where to start looking. "Good, now we know where to start looking. Starting now, our goal is to get to Florida."

That's when I noticed it was getting late. We had left camp at three and we had been in the cab from hell for at least two hours, though due to their crazy driving it felt a lot shorter, so now it was around five thirty and the sun was going down.

"It's getting late, we should find a place to stay, we can worry about things tomorrow." Reyna said. "Come on, I know a place."

That's when we started walking until we got to the subway, where we took a train to downtown Manhattan, then we took another cab and ended up in front of the Plaza hotel. I looked at the building with wide eyes, then at the former Pretor.

"Wait, we're staying _here?!" _I asked, jabbing my thumb at the massive hotel in front of us.

The Hunter of Artemis held her chin up high smuggly, I could see a smirk painted across her face. "Well it was either that or camping in the woods." She then looked at me. "If you don't like it I can-"

"No!" I said. "It's fine, I'm just surprised."

"Alright then." Reyna said. "I guess we're in agreement."

"Yeah. I'd say so." I nodded.

I noticed Jason was rolling his eyes. "Alright love birds lets get checked in." He said.

I slugged him in the shoulder, telling him to shut up and Reyna tightened her jaw. As we walked in the door to the lobby I couldn't stop myself from staring in awe at how luxurious and huge it was. I stood there looking around for a good minute until I realized that Reyna already paid for our room and checked us in.

A bellhop asked if he could take my travel bag, which was the same kind of bag Ryu from Street Fighters carried. I handed it to him and he then led us to our room. Which as it turns out was the Tower three room suite.

As we walked in, I saw that the room was a warm white color, with a chandelier in the main living room, some fancy chairs, desks, etc, and true to its name, had three bed rooms. One for each of us.

We all got our stuff and started settling in. Later that night I was getting ready for bed, I took a nice long warm shower and started brushing my teeth, that's when I heard the door to my room open, I walked out of my bathroom, toothbrush still in my mouth to see who it was.

When I walked into my room, I saw it was Reyna, she was in some sort of purple nightgown and had her hair down. I had to admit, I liked seeing her with her hair down, made her look even more hot.

She was holding a set of fresh towels, my guess was to replace the ones I had used. I stood there, not exactly sure what to do in this situation, until she spoke up.

"Here, here's your other towels." She said, her face slightly red, she seemed to be trying to keep a straight face.

I looked at myself and realized I was still only in a towel, so I immediately went back into the bathroom and finished brushing my teeth and put on a robe.

"Thanks." I said as I walked out, taking the towels. "Sorry about that."

"It's nothing. It's not like you were _completely _naked." She said, couldn't tell for sure, but I thought she stared at my left peck for a second. She crossed her arms as she looked away, which made me notice something on her arm. "Anyway I'll let you get dressed-"

I stopped her before she could leave, grabbing her arm, I looked it over and saw a green image of a torch and a sword with the letters SPQR under it as well as several bars, it didn't look like a tattoo, it looked more like a…

"A brand." I said.

"What?" She asked, blushing slightly from me suddenly grabbing her hand.

"This, it's a brand isn't it?" I asked.

"Yes. All the Demigods in Camp Jupiter have them." She said bluntly.

I nodded, I had a feeling, I saw similar marks on Jason and the other Jupiter kids, I just didn't know what they were exactly. "Why? Why did they brand you?"

"To show that we were judged as strong by Lupa, our guardian." She told me.

I gritted my teeth. I had heard about this Lupa from Chiron, real mean piece of work who only acknowledged the strong. I let go of her hand and scratched my head, it really rubbed me the wrong way to know that the kids of the Roman gods were judged by some animal.

"Nigel, What's wrong?" Reyna asked.

"It's nothing." I told her.

She then whistled as two dogs appeared, one silver the other gold. "I'm going to ask you again, Nigel, what is wrong? Why are you suddenly interested in my brand?"

"I told you, it's nothing, just forget it." I snapped.

The dogs then start to growl. "You're lying. Keep this up and they'll attack." The Amazon said.

I realized she had me in a corner, and I sighed as I threw my hands up. "Fine!" The dogs disappeared and I sighed, sitting on my bed. "I'll tell you, but close your eyes first."

She looked at me oddly, but complied, I then took off my robe and put on my sleep wear, then I turned to her.

"Alright, open them." I saw her open her eyes as I turned around, that's when I heard her gasp, the thing she was looking at was a jagged reminder of my lineage, that I had no idea about until now. It was a large scar in the middle of my back in the shape of the omega symbol, a constant reminder of just how different I was to everyone else.

I turned to face her as she had her mouth covered. "My mom told me that I got this mark a little bit after I was born, no one knows how I got it or who put it there, but one thing's for certain, it's caused me nothing but pain ever since, always reminding me how I'm different, and how no matter how hard I try I'll always...be alone." I told her as I put my shirt back on. "Now you know why I didn't like seeing your brand."

"Because it reminded you of your own." Reyna said softly. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"

"It's fine. It would've come up eventually." I told her. "You should get some rest, I'll see you in the morning."

She nodded and then turned to leave. "Nigel.."

"Yeah?" I asked as I got into bed.

"I just want you to know, the fates are right. You don't have to do this alone. You aren't alone, and as long as the others and I are around, you'll never be alone." Reyna said as she was walking out of the room.

"Thanks." I said as she closed the door. I turned out the light and went to sleep, maybe she was right, maybe now I really am not alone anymore.

As I went to sleep I had a dream, I was standing in a black abyss with no clear way in or out. No light or sound anywhere to be seen or heard.

"Where, where am I?" I asked myself as I looked around. "Hello? Anyone there?" I called.

That's when the abyss slowly started to form something, it was a large man with a long black beard, black eyes and hair, he was also wearing black armor, his skin was pale and he seemed to be absolutely jacked. And he had with him a large sword that looked like it came straight out of Dark Souls.

"So at long last I finally get to speak with you in person, my son." The man said in a deep voice.

That one line was the only thing I needed to finally figure out just who I was talking to right now, I felt my brows furrow, my fists clench and my teeth grind as I let out the only thing I thought to say in greeting.

"Hey there, dad."


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13: My dad and I have a chat.**

"Hey there, dad." I said as I glared at the man in front of me.

He seemed to look like he was sizing me up, looking me over, being quiet for a few seconds before speaking again. "You don't seem happy about it." He said.

"Ha! No shit Sherlock." I scoffed, crossing my arms, he was definitely my dad, we had the same habit of stating the obvious. Now I knew it was genetic. "I mean let's see, I'm talking to a primordial being that happens to be my father, but also happened to give my mom cancer and leave me alone. Yeah I'd say I'm not happy."

Tartarus seemed to be amused at my snarky comment. "Child, the only reason why I abstained from trying to mold you into who I wanted personally, was because of the Olympians and their insufferable children."

"What are you talking about?" I questioned.

"Do you honestly think that I put that seal on your back? That mark was put there to cut me off from being unable to communicate with you until you reached the right age." He said.

"Wait so this thing on my back, it's a seal?" I asked.

"A stain on my greatest masterpiece, I created you for one reason, to become my vessel in the physical world, one that, unlike the forms of those fools, Kronos and Gaia, would not be so easily beaten." The primordial continued, pretty much ignoring my question. "But the gods of Olympus, in their fear, placed that seal on you to thwart my plans."

I smirked. "So much for your epic comeback, huh pops?" I really loved how I could taunt him right now.

"Do not be so arrogant, boy, every seal can be broken, including that one, they simply prolonged the inevitable. And when it does break, I will take over your body and I will take my revenge on the gods and demigods." He scoffed.

That pissed me off. "Over my dead body." I snapped.

That caused the old man to smirk a smug smirk. "Oh I know." He said as the dream suddenly started to end.

I woke up as I cover my eyes with my arm, it was morning now, I shook my head as I tried to wake myself up, I guess now I knew exactly what my dad thought of me, though I honestly didn't care, the guy just saw me as a tool, I didn't want or need to make him proud.

I slowly got out of bed as I got dressed. But as I slipped on Suppressor, I noticed that it was heavier than usual again. I didn't know why, but I knew for a fact it wasn't good.

I walked into the dining room of the suite and sat down at the table, Jason and Reyna were already there as they apparently started eating some room service they ordered.

"Well look who decided to wake up." Jason said, clearly trying to tease me.

I rolled my eyes as I sat down. "Shut up Grace."

I sat down at the table and started eating breakfast with the two, Reyna looked at me as she ate some fruit and meat.

"Everything Okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, just had a...weird dream." I said as I ate the omelette Jason had ordered me.

This got Jason's attention, probably because of the talk we had yesterday. "Was your dad in it?" He asked.

Wow, not beating around the bush are we? Was all I could think as I nodded. "Yeah, and you know that theory about how he wants to use me as a vessel? Yeah I just heard it straight from the horse's mouth. He seems to think I'm his masterpiece, I'm pretty sure he just means he thinks I'm a tool."

Jason's face contorted in both disgust and anger. "So he just straight up told you, to your face, that he thinks of you as nothing but a tool?"

"Exactly." I nodded, drinking some coffee.

"Wow, father of the year." Jason said, his words dripping with sarcasm.

"My thoughts exactly." Reyna added.

I chuckled as I finished eating, after breakfast we got our stuff and left the hotel, as we walked out of the hotel I tried to hail us a cab.

"So what are we gonna do?" Jason asked.

"_We _are gonna go to a dock, if we're gonna get to Florida we're gonna need a boat." I told him.

"Why a boat?" Reyna questioned as we entered a cab I managed to hail.

"Because we were warned to avoid the sky, and driving will take too long, a boat is the quickest way." I replied. "And as luck would have it, I happen to know a guy who owes me a few favors who happens to have a boat."

I told the driver to bring us to a ship yard outside of Manhattan, as we pulled up about fifteen minutes later, I paid the driver and we started walking down the dock.

"So who is this guy?" Jason asked.

"He's a guy who used to go to my school three years ago, and got his own boat after he graduated, he does boat trips as a business." I said. "In fact, there it is right over there."

The boat I directed them to was a large sailboat, not as big as a yacht, but it was decent sized. It was white with silver accents. The name on the side of the boat read "The Hudson Lee."

I walked up to the ship and gave the cab a good knock. "Hey! Robby! You home?" I called loud.

There was a loud clang then a guy came walking out of the boat, he jumped down onto the dock and started walking towards us.

This guy was Robin Hudson Lee, he was around twenty years old and had long sandy blonde hair, a small goatee of a similar color, green eyes, and tanned skin. He was wearing a pair of silver aviator sunglasses, a light tan colored Sailor Jerry spiced rum T-shirt, a short sleeved orange over shirt and a pair of brown cargo shorts, he also had on some flip flops.

"What the hell Nige? Ya do realize you just made me fall out of my hammock right? I don't feel like having a knot on my head from hitting the floor ya know." He said in a mixed Brooklyn-Miami beach bum accent.

"Not my problem Rob. Listen I need a favor." I told him.

"Again? What is it this time? Did you piss off the Chinese Triads again?" Robin asked.

As soon as he said that Jason and Reyna gave me weird looks. "Don't ask." I told them. I looked at Robin again and gave him a serious look. "No, me and my friends need to borrow your boat to get to Florida."

"Florida? Why?" Robin asked. "And more importantly, who are those two?"

"It's a long story." I told him. "And this is Jason and Reyna, their friends of mine from a camp I go to."

Robin seemed a little suspicious. I gave him a look that I only gave him when I wanted him to know I wasn't screwing around. "Come on man, remember you owe me." I told him.

The blonde scratched the black of his neck and sighed. "Alright alright. Let me get the boat ready." He then started walking away.

Reyna grabbed my shoulders. "What do you mean by, he owes you?"

"I helped him build this boat and helped get his business up and running by working with him during the summer." I told her.

She nodded and backed off as Robin came back as he gestured us to come on board. As we got on the boat Robin stole a glance at Reyna as he started getting ready to shove off. Then he looked at me and smirked.

"So, that girl with the braid, she your girlfriend?" He asked as he opened up the sail and tied it off.

I felt my cheeks burn as I looked at Reyna to make sure she didn't hear him, then I slugged him as he got on the wheel of the boat.

"Dude, Shut up." I snarled.

"I guess that's a 'no' then." He chuckled. He then looked at Jason who was on the other side of the boat away from Reyna. "So, what's his story?"

I shrugged. "He had an estranged relationship with his older sister because his mom gave him to foster care." I lied about the foster care part because of well, you know.

"Yikes." Robin hissed then he looked at Reyna. "And her?"

"Not sure, she never really said." I told him, that part was true, Reyna never really told me much about her past. "Why?"

"Well I'm no love gooru but I'm getting a feeling that those two used to have a thing for each other at some point. I mean, they ain't exactly sitting with each other, not to mention they just seem, awkward." The sailor stated.

I wasn't at all surprised that he said that, Robin was really good at reading people, I mean he could take one look at you and could make a pretty accurate description of what your personality is most likely like.

That got me wondering if that was one of the reasons why Reyna joined the Hunters, to get away from what had hurt her, men. It did make sense, Piper did mention that they had gotten into a fight over who should be with Jason once, and I think Percy mentioned that she actually told him she liked him, but was pretty hurt when he rejected her.

"I don't really know." I told him.

"Well then why don't you ask?" Robin asked. "I'm sure she'll tell you if you ask."

I looked at Reyna and felt my curiosity get the better of me. "Ya know." I told Robin. "I think I'll ask just that."

I walked towards where she was. "Hey, Reyna?" I asked as she looked at me. "Mind if we talk?"


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14: Past pain, Present problem **

"Mind if we talk?" I asked as I sat down next to Reyna at the left side of the boat. She moved and made room for both of us to sit as I got situated.

The Amazon girl looked at me with a semi serious, partly questioning look. "What about?" She asked.

"Not much." I shrugged, trying to slowly ease into the subject so she wouldn't out right try to bite my head off. "I had just heard a lot of rumors back at Camp Half Blood about you and Jason and..."

"And you were wondering if you could ask me about how all that happened and how it affected my decision to become a hunter?" She finished.

"Yeah, that's it." Was all I managed to say, being surprised she guessed what I was trying to say.

Reyna sighed as she flipped her braid aside, then looked at me with a serious look that probably meant she wasn't looking for a half baked answer. "Why are you asking."

"I'm just curious, nothing wrong with trying to know my friends right? And besides, I shared a personal story with you already didn't I?" I asked her, referring to last night.

This caused her to look at me and sigh. "You're right. It's only fair." She said, leaning back on the railing of the boat, looking up at the sky. "It's simple really, Jason and I were friends back at camp Jupiter, we still are, but back then we were...very close, close enough to where if you were an outsider looking in, you'd think we _were _in a relationship. However that changed when the giants appeared, and when he…" She trailed off for a second.

"Met Piper?" I finished.

She nodded, closing her eyes. "I would be lying if I said I wasn't jealous, and upset when I found out but, deep down I think I knew we probably weren't meant for each other. Though that didn't stop me from lashing out at Piper, and looking back, I honestly wish I'd been more understanding, and not shown such weakness."

That statement really made me wanna punch something. Show weakness? What kind of stuff were they teaching them at camp Jupiter?! I decided to say this piece of my mind out loud.

"Yeah, well you know what I think?" I said, trying my _damndest _not to sound angry. "I think that showing what's in your heart, no matter if it's through sadness or bursts of anger and not giving a damn about what people say about it isn't weakness, it's the most powerful kind of strength."

The former Pretor turned her head to look at me, surprise painted all over her face. I looked her straight in the eye and I told her.

"It's true, maybe Jason and you weren't 'made' for each other, maybe it was best if he got with Piper, but I know one thing's for sure. Any guy who would reject a woman as strong, brave, and (oh gods help me now) beautiful as you, is either crazy or dumb as hell." I said, my face heating as my cheeks went pink. I got up tried to face away from her. "And I'll be _damned _if anyone tells me otherwise!"

With that I quickly made my way below deck where Robin kept all his drinks and food. I took a bottle of water out of the fridge and started drinking it, my little monologue there having caused my throat to go dry.

I put a hand on my heart, it was _still _racing. Why did I even _say _that?! What was I out of my mind? Was I just talking outta my ass? What was that?! Hell, I didn't even know _why _I said that! What was wrong with me?!

I chugged down the water before I heard a voice. "Hey slow down, you're gonna choke." A male voice said from behind me.

I nearly did a spit take, causing the water to go down my windpipe and caused me to choke. I coughed and sputtered as I looked to see who it was, it was Jason, he was leaning against the frame of doorway in front of stairs leading down from the main deck.

"Wha-*cough cough* What, *hack* do you want Grace?" I asked, he was not the person I wanted to see me like this right now.

"You left in a hurry. Something wrong?" He asked, walking into the room to where we were a good two feet apart.

I set down my water and then thumped my chest a couple times, coughed, cleared my throat and then took a quick breath. "No, nothing's wrong, I just needed to cool down, it's hot out there." I lied.

"It's only Seventy two degrees…" Jason stated.

"Shut up." I said as I drank some more water, which finally cooled down my face. I turned to face him as my heart rate returned to normal. "What are you really doing down here?"

"You left in a hurry after you talked to Reyna, everything okay?" He asked.

"Oh you saw that?" I asked, again, habit of stating the obvious. "Yeah I'm fine, you didn't happen to hear any of that did you?"

Jason shook his head as he pulled out a Bluetooth earbud from his left ear. "No, I had these in. Sorry."

I gave a silent sigh of relief, that was really lucky. "That's fine." I said as I sat down on a bench. "So since I got you here, mind if I ask you something?"

Jason sat down on the bench next to me and looked at me. "Okay what is it?"

"Have you and Reyna ever, ya know, dated at all? Before you met Piper?" I asked this question just to be absolutely sure that Reyna's story was accurate.

The son of Jupiter shook his head in reply. "No." He said, his tone was pretty solid, like this was subject he didn't like dwelling on for long.

I nodded. "Reyna said something similar. Okay, next question, did you ever like, question your love for Piper? Like maybe you thought it was all in your head?"

That caused his brows to furrow. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "There was this one time, yeah, that thought it was a trick from the mist or her charmspeak, but I eventually got over that suspicion."

I nodded, I heard about Charmspeak before. It was a rare ability given to children of Aphrodite to be able to charm someone into doing what they wanted. I remember that this one time Piper's sister Drew Tanaka tried to use it on me, but since I'm a Son of Tartarus, it didn't work Whatsoever.

"So why are you so curious all of a sudden?" Jason finally asked.

"Robin said he sensed something awkward going on between you two and I was curious as to what it was." I told him. He gave me a weird look. "He's really good at reading people."

"Oh." He nodded. "Did we satisfy your curiosity?"

"Yeah, I'd say so." I nodded as I threw away my empty water bottle. We were quiet for awhile before we felt the boat lurch to the side. "What the hell? What's going on?"

The two of us ran up to the main deck and saw Robin was trying to straighten the boat. "What happened?" I asked as I ran up to him.

"I don't know, something just dashed in front of boat, so I swerved out of the way to miss it." Robin said. "And whatever it was, it was _fast_."

I looked around, I couldn't see anything, but I could definitely hear something. It sounded like something was whooshing around the boat at top speed.

The noise kept going around us for a few seconds before it disappeared. "Well it's gone now." I said, I adjusted Suppressor, which had just gotten heavier again. "But I doubt that'll be for long."

I ran over to Reyna, who had her knife out, looking on guard. "You okay?" I asked.

She turned to me and nodded. "I am now, I can't believe something tried to attack us."

"Well. At least we know that the prophecy wasn't kidding, we really _do _need to beware the sky." I said as I looked up behind us, something had dashed away too fast for me to see, we had an aerial attacker, and something told me this wasn't the last we'd see the last of it, whoever or _what_ever it was.

(Third person POV)

The black blur stopped dashing around after getting back around twenty or thirty yards away from the boat. It now seemed to have a human shape.

The figure looked like a boy about thirteen years old or so, with black hair that was shaved off on both sides, leaving a Mohawk that dropped to the right side of his head. The boy also had tan skin and the same ethereal green eyes as Nigel, and the same build, but was shorter. He wore some black cargo pants, purple greaves, a black vest, and lastly, he had on a Camp Jupiter shirt. Which matched the brand on his arm, which was the symbol of Tartarus.

"Looks like I finally found you...big brother." The boy said as darkness surrounded him and he disappeared.

**DUN DUN DUN! New character is here. which means he needs a name. Leave your suggestions in the review section and I'll be holding a poll on my profile to decide on the name from a few of those, the winner will be the name I use for this new character! **


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15: We meet Leo**

After that little scare we had been a little on edge for awhile, not sure what had decided to pick a fight with us in the middle of the ocean. So to help let everyone feel at ease we decided to take turns keeping watch while Robin did the driving.

This routine continued for a few days, around a week or so, and by that point we got to the Florida keys with little incident, so we got off the boat and left to go find Leo.

We looked for awhile but we couldn't really find him, or his Dragon automaton, so I decided to switch to plan B. I started to untie my bag from my belt and slowly rummaged around in it.

"What are you looking for?" Jason asked.

"Plan B." I said as I pulled out a small white pyramid shaped stone. The stone had a black center and looked like it was made of crystal. "Bingo."

"What is that?" Reyna questioned.

"The thing that's gonna finally track down our missing Son of Hephaestus." I said as I reeled my arm back. Then I chucked it forward as black energy surrounded it and it slowly started to change shape.

The thing that replaced the stone was a hellhound, but this hellhound had no eyes, just a large white circle and was all black and Smokey looking.

"Whoa." They both said in awe.

"Right? I just found out I could do that, apparently I'm able to trap the souls of monsters I kill into those stones and make them work for me." I explained. "Now, where'd I put that rag?"

I pulled out a dirty rag I found in Leo's workstation back at camp and held it out to the hound, it gave the rag a few good sniffs before bolting off.

"Come on, let's follow him!" I said as we ran after him.

It lead us up and down town, through streets and other places, until we reached what looked like a huge scrap yard.

As we caught up to the hound, I called it back and tried to catch my breath. "So...you guys...think, he'd be here?" I asked.

Jason, also trying to catch his breath let out a huff and he held his hands on his back and looked at the scrap yard. "Oh yeah. This is definitely a place he'd be." He nodded.

I looked around to see if anyone was around, no one was home. So I brought out Suppressor and used it to pole vault myself over the fence that surrounded the yard, landing clean across without a hitch.

"And he sticks it!" I cheered.

Jason however, decided to use his powers to get over the fence, landing next to me after floating the whole way.

"Show off." I said as he chuckled.

Reyna just rolled her eyes and just decided to cut through the padlock on the door and went that way. She was smirking the whole time too.

"Don't even start." I told her.

"I wasn't going to." She smirked smuggly.

We started wondering around looking for anything weird, like a giant Dragon for example. Still nothing.

"LEO!" Jason suddenly yelled. "Hey you there?"

I jumped when I heard that. "Dude! Shh! We don't know if anyone else is here!"

"Well it was worth a sho-uh oh." He said as there was a sudden thumping sound coming from around the corner.

There was a loud clang as a sadan fell from the top of a pile of cars and a giant bronze foot crushed it like a soda can. We all looked up and saw that the foot belonged to a huge metal dragon, with drill bits for teeth and what I could only assume were spotlights for eyes.

The dragon let out a loud roar as it's neck started to glow orange before it opened its mouth and breathed fire out of an ignition slot in its mouth like the world's largest blowtorch.

Jason dived behind a totaled Subaru Outback and I tackled Reyna to the ground behind an old beat up Ferrari. "So I assume that's Festus?" I called to Jason.

"Yeah! I don't get it though, he's usually not this hostile, I wonder what's gotten into him?" Jason wondered.

"Hell if I know." I tried to peek around the car after the flames stopped. "Whoa!" Only to have to duck again as Festus fired yet another blast at us. "Okay, It's time for this _tin can _to take a nap!" I said as I rummaged around in my bag.

"What are you gonna do?" Reyna asked.

I pulled out another stone rolled It between my fingers. "The force of many." I tossed it before up slightly before catching it again and getting ready to throw. "Cut off one head, two more shall take its place." I then threw it directly at the mechanical flying lizard. "HAIL HYDRA!"

The stone slowly morphed until it became another hydra I killed, this one was larger than the first one and it was about the same size as Festus, with five heads.

The two dragons faced off as they bashed each other with their heads and tails. My hydra having the advantage because of its extra heads. This fight went on for a few minutes as they tore through the scrap yard, until a girl in a white dress came running up to Festus.

"Festus! Is everything okay? What's going on?" She asked.

I knew she'd probably get squashed if the fight went on any longer so when my hydra pushed Festus back far enough I called it back, then Jason, Reyna and myself went running up to the girl in the dress.

In terms of appearance she was pretty cute, slightly shorter than Reyna with light brown hair and brown eyes, she was also wearing a headband around her head.

She walked up to Festus who was laying on his stomach and what I can only assume was his version of breathing heavily. The girl stroked his neck tenderly before facing us and glaring at me.

"Why did you attack Festus?" She demanded.

"Me? _He _attacked _us!_" I snapped. "And who are you anyway? Isn't this dragon supposed to belong to a guy named Leo?

The girl seemed like she was getting defensive for some reason. "I'm Calypso, why are you looking for Leo? Who are you?"

I was about to give this girl a what for when Jason put his hand on my shoulder and stopped me.

"I'm Jason Grace, Leo's a friend of mine." Jason explained, gesturing to himself. Then he pointed at me. "This is Nigel, He's with us on a quest to help bring Leo back to Camp Half Blood."

Calypso seemed to understand and slowly started to relax. "Oh. I see, sorry." She said as she stroked Festus's nose. "Sorry about festus, he's been programmed to attack anyone he doesn't recognize in case they might be an enemy."

That made sense, like a German shepherd but with wings, and more teeth. As we were talking someone else came running towards us. I could easily recognize him as Leo Valdez, the guy we'd been looking for.

"Calypso, you ran off, everything okay?" The guy asked.

"I'm fine Leo." Calypso said as Festus snorted, which she giggled at. "And luckily so is Festus."

Leo sighed in relief before he noticed us standing there, he stood there in shock for awhile before looking at Jason and raising his arms with a wide smile. "Dude!" They both yelled at the same time.

The two ran up to each other and hugged each other. Both Reyna and I stood there with Calypso as the two kept giving each other noogies, I chuckled and shook my head.

"Yeah they are definitely friends." I nodded. I then decided to whistle to get their attention. They turned as Jason had Leo in a headlock and his fist giving the Latino boy a noogie.

The two separated as they scratched the back of their heads. "Sorry." They said. Leo then walked over to me and held his hand out.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Leo." He said.

"Nigel." I said while shaking his hand. I then turned to the others. "Okay guys let's get moving. We still don't know what that thing that was chasing us is and I don't intend on waiting to find out, now let go!"

"Wait what?" Leo asked as we started to leave the junkyard.

"It's a long story." Jason told him.

As we were about to get to the door, three square nails suddenly were sent right at us and got stuck in our way. I tried to move past them, but then they suddenly grew into long rods, causing us to have to jump back.

There was the sound of someone laughing before a kid who looked around thirteen landed in front of us. He had black hair that was shaved off on both sides, leaving a Mohawk that dropped to the right side of his head. He also had tan skin and the same ethereal green eyes as me, and the same build, but was clearly shorter. He wore some black cargo pants, purple greaves, a black vest, and lastly, he had on a Camp Jupiter shirt. Which matched the brand on his arm, and it had a symbol that I immediately recognized.

"What." Jason said.

"The." Reyna added.

"Shit." I finished as I stepped back.

The kid looked at me as he crossed his arms and flashed several of the same nails that he had between his fingers. "Well well well, it seems we finally meet, brother." He stated.


	17. Chapter 16

**Well readers, here it is, the chapter where Nigel meets his brother, and based on the results of the poll this brother shall be known as...*drum roll*...Lazarus! That's his name now please enjoy, cuz we're nearing this arc's climax!**

**Chapter 16: I meet-and fight-my brother**

It took all of my restraint to not let my jaw drop down to the ground cartoon style when this kid called me his brother. I shook my head to try and get myself to focus as I looked at him again.

He definitely did look like me, had the same eyes and everything. Honestly if he wasn't shorter than me you'd probably think we were twins or something.

"Sorry, what?" Jason said to the kid. "Who are you?"

The kid looked at him in a demeaning, 'I'm better than you, so watch your tone' kinda way before sneering. "Not that it's any of your business, Son of Jupiter, but my name is Lazarus, Lazarus Jager." He then looked back at me. "And I am a Son of Tartarus, just like you, Nigel, dear brother."

I couldn't believe my ears at this point, _Jager_? His last name was Jager? That made no sense, my mom died when I was little, and this guy looked to be at least two years younger than me. How could this have happened?

Lazarus evidently saw how confused I was, because he started monologuing again. "If you're wondering how I came into being and why you didn't know, it was because I was born two years after you were born, and when the gods found out that there wasn't just two sons of Tartarus but two from the same family, they ordered our mother to give me to the Roman Camp in exchange for letting me live, and I was to be sealed with a similar seal to yours." He turned and showed us that he had a seal too, but was in the shape of the Alpha symbol.

"An alpha seal…" Reyna gasped. "Now I understand...why didn't I recognize it sooner?"

"Huh?" I asked, not sure what she meant.

"It's a type of seal put any being, Demigod, Demititan, or Demi primordial that either may have powers that are too dangerous to run rampant, or on someone who can't easily control them. It suppresses and dampens their power." She explained. "It's opposite the omega seal does the same, but with outside influences."

"Seems we have a sharp one here." Lazarus sneered. "While that is true, you left out one crucial detail."

"And that is?" I growled as Suppressor started to get heavy again, weighing down my arm.

"The only way to break either seal is to allow someone with the opposite seal make contact with them." He said, fiddling with the nails in between his fingers, which I had just noticed were made of Tartarus silver.

"That explains why the gods separated you two." Jason said, looking at me. "So you wouldn't break each other's seals."

Leo meanwhile was keeping close to Calypso and Festus, a giant hammer in hand as he was completely lost at this point. "This is so heavy!" He said.

Lazarus then called back his three nails on the ground and tossed them up and down in his hand. "Our father has told me that he wishes you dead, since you will not cooperate, so he can take your body by force." He then stopped tossing the nails and got one in between each finger. "And to do that…" He then threw the nails at us and made them grow, separating him and me from the others. "I need to break our seals."

I growled as I brought out Suppressor, not caring about how heavy it was right now. "I'll tell you the same thing I told that bastard. You'll get my body when I'm _dead._"

The little twerp smirked and tossed some more nails. "That's the point isn't it?" He said as he threw two at me. I deflected one but the second grazed my shoulder.

"Gah!" I hissed as I held my shoulder, celestial bronze only stung when it hurt me, this however _burned_.

"Painful isn't it?" Lazarus taunted as he made the nail that missed me grow and go into my leg, which made me cry in agony at the pain. "Good, now you shall know, _pain._"

I could barely react as the nail that grazed my shoulder extended from behind me and grazed my side as I barely managed to dodge. The nails extended back to Lazarus as he made them small again and just smuggly grinned as I tried to stand up.

"How the hell are you doing that?" I growled.

"Our father granted me to bend the metal he created to my will, and instead of giving me countering and suppression powers like you, he granted me absorption powers." He said smuggly.

I growled but what he said gave me an idea, as I made Suppressor disappear, I brought out Rebellion and held it in a reverse grip. I had a plan up my sleeve now, and he wouldn't see it coming.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Reyna, Jason, Leo and Calypso looking at my in worry, especially Reyna.

"What are you doing you idiot? Why don't you run?!" She said.

I wiped the blood from my mouth as I straightened myself up. "I would if I could, but I can't." I told her, looking at her as I gave her a thumbs up. "But don't worry, I will win this fight if it's the last thing I do. I promise."

Then Lazarus cuts in as he charged at me with a nail he extended into a spear. "How poetic, brother!" He said as he slammed the stick into the side of my head, making me fly up against the bars that were holding us in. "But I'm afraid you won't be seeing her after this fight."

I stumbled up as I held Rebellion tightly. "That's What you think." I then let all the power I'd been building up go into Rebellion as I raised it. "Revenge _Slash_!" I yelled as a wave of dark energy collided with Lazarus as he was sent flying, colliding with the bars as well with a sizable wound on his chest.

The kid stumbled to his feet as he coughed up blood. "What, What was that?" He gasped.

I returned Rebellion and got out Suppressor again. "That was revenge slash, if I take damage while using Rebellion I can store it and release it in a large attack later."

Lazarus stumbled up as his wound kept bleeding. "You still won't win." He said as he picked up the nails he dropped.

I then twisted my grip on Suppressor as it glowed red. "Says who?" I said as the energy went through me as my power soared and my wounds healed. "Critical Overload!"

I gripped my staff as I swung its ax end around, slicing through a pile of cars as it sent Lazarus flying back into the side of a large volkswagen and for my second strike with the spearhead I slashed again as he was sent through the Volkswagen and out the other side.

He got up slowly but I could tell he was in pain that's when I rushed forward and punched him in the gut. "Take this you smug little twerp!" I yelled.

"Nigel no! Don't touch him!" Reyna yelled.

I was about to pull away before Lazarus grabbed my arm and our backs glowed, mine glowed orange and his purple as our seals suddenly broke. He then pushed me away as his wounds suddenly started healing.

"Finally. At long last, I can use my full power." He said, he then punched me in the face as I staggered back and swung the same spear at me again, I blocked most of the blows but my power was slowly starting to decrease, he must be absorbing it.

'_Damn it.' _I thought. '_I played right into his hands.' _

I tried to attack him but he forced me back and threw a nail at me which landed behind me and he extended it to where it went into my shoulder. I screamed in pain as he did it again to my other arm. Then called them back and kicked me up against a concrete wall. The back of my head hit the wall hard and everything went fuzzy I couldn't tell what happened after that before I felt terrible pain in my hands and feet before I felt something go into my chest and everything went black.

'_Guys...I'm sorry.' _

(Right before the blackout, 3rd person POV)

Lazarus grinned as he held up three more nails. "Now to finish this!" He threw one at each of Nigel's outstretched hands, then one at his feet, causing him to be crucified on the wall.

The others looked on in horror, Jason's eyes were starting to spark with lightning and Reyna's eyes slowly started to cloud in a mixture of rage and sadness.

Lazarus made one more spear to throw at his chest, he brought his arm back and aimed. "Goodbye brother." He said as he threw the spear into Nigel's heart.

"No!" Reyna yelled as she fell to her knees.

Jason was the first to snap as he brought up a wave of upheaval and tore up all the rods separating them and used his lightning powers to hit Lazarus dead on. The Demi Primordial absorbed the initial blast, but it didn't matter, as Leo and Festus were next, setting him on fire while Reyna charged at him and stabbed him in the stomach with her sword.

"You're gonna regret that." Jason said as Lazarus writhed in pain, only to be zapped again.

"And we're going to make you pay for What you've done!" Reyna growled.

Little did they know however that the Now lifeless body of Nigel was starting to get a black smoke into it, and this black smoke was slowly starting to cause it to change shape.


	18. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17: Tartarus vs Camp Half Blood **

(Third person POV from Jason's perspective)

As Lazarus was lying on the ground due to his injuries, Jason and the others noticed that Nigel's body was starting to change. As the nails popped out of where they were he stood up as the wounds healed and his body started to morph.

He grew to a height similar to the god of war ares, if not a couple inches shorter, with just as much muscle and well defined muscle tone, his hair grew longer, reaching the beginning of his thighs and his face became more adult-like. His attire also changed, he was now in a black skin tight leotard with short sleeves and leg parts that seemed to go to his calves. He also now had on elbow length silver gauntlets and thigh length silver greaves, and lastly he seemed to have a short cape made of green fire that reached from his shoulders to his mid back. And also a giant pair of Tartarus silver clawed hands that came from his shoulders.

Jason and the others could also see that there were glowing green symbols all over his arms, legs, the giant silver arms and one large one in the center of his chest, which was the symbol of Tartarus.

"No way…" Jason gasped.

"Impossible…" Reyna said in shock.

The new being cracked its neck and opened its eyes, revealing they were the same color as Nigel's, but had a very condescending and twisted look to them. The figures looked at its hand and flexed its fingers for a second or two before speaking.

"Interesting, so this is what it feels like to have a physical body." He stated as he looked at the Demigods and the boy lying on the ground.

"F-father…" Lazarus gasped in a weak voice.

The man looked at him with a look of disgust. "Do not speak to me, creature." He said as he stomped his foot on the boy's stomach. "This is what my creation has come to? Being beaten at the height of your power by two Demigods? You disgust me!"

He said this as he kept driving his foot into Lazarus's stomach, causing the boy to cry in pain before the man kicked him Across the scrapyard and then used his large Tartarus silver arms to swat away an entire stack of cars in anger.

"Damn it all! I molded that child to my liking and he was _still_ beaten by a mere Demigod!" He roared as he punched through the concrete wall next to him. "But no matter." He then looked at Jason and Reyna. "I will take matters into my own hands."

Reyna was still in shock after seeing what this man just did, but her gaze sharpened as she glared at him so intensely it made him seem surprised. "_Tartarus._" She growled, pure unadulterated venom dripping from her words as she gripped her sword tightly, her knuckles turning white.

Tartarus was taken slightly aback by her vicious and visceral tone, but then a smug smirk was soon plastered on his face as he crossed his arms and the two silver arms on his shoulders dug into the ground on either side of him.

"Well hello, I don't believe we've met. You're the one who my son's final thoughts were about..,Reyna wasn't it?" Tartarus said. "I really must thank you, if you and those other Demigods had made him value your lives instead of his own, this would have never happened."

The girl was livid now feeling nothing but rage, his taunting and his usage of her friend's body was only adding fuel to the fire. "Shut up. Shut up shut up shut up!" She yelled.

Jason put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't listen to him Reyna."

"I won't forgive you! I'll kill you!" She yelled as she charged at Tartarus, but was swatted aside like a fly as he backhanded her with one of his extra arms.

Jason flew over to her and caught her. "You Okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine, now put me down." She said as she tried to get out of his grip. But Jason stopped her.

"Reyna, stop, calm down." He told her. "I know you're angry, I am too, but we can't let that cloud our judgment, it'll only lead to trouble, you know that."

Reyna looked at him and slowly started to calm down. She knew he was right. "You're right, sorry." She told him.

The blonde nodded. "No problem." He then turned to Tartarus with a sharp glare of his own. "Hey Tartarus!"

Tartarus turned towards them. Jason walked up to him and looked up at him as he gripped his sword. "Tell me something, since you took over Nigel's body, does that mean his soul was sent to the underworld?"

Tartarus gave a smug grin and he looked down at him. "No, in order to be able to control this body his soul still needs to be present." Tartarus stated.

'_Wow, he actually just said that? Man he must either be stupid or arrogant.' _Jason thought. He then looked at Reyna and Leo again as the two nodded. Turning back to Tartarus Jason rested his sword on his shoulder. "So what you're saying is that if we killed you, Nigel would get his body back?"

"If you could kill me." Tartarus said nonchalantly, crossing his arms.

"Figured you'd say that." Jason said as he took this chance to slash Tartarus in the leg, making him drop to one knee, then he whipped around and yelled. "Now Leo!" As he dived out of the way.

Leo then blasted the primordial with fire as Festus joined in, causing the man to roar in pain, and as the flames surrounded him Jason flew up as Reyna tossed him a spear and he summoned a huge lightning storm and brought down an absolutely enormous lightning bolt down on the man which caused his skeleton to be visible for a solid minute. Followed more roars of pain from Tartarus.

As the dust cleared everyone stood ready to fight in case their plan didn't work. One it settled Tartarus was still standing, but was visibly injured and seemed to be marveling at the feeling of pain from the attack he just tanked.

"So...this is what it's like to take damage. _This _is pain!" He said as he looked at the Demigods. "That was very interesting, Demigods, now I know what pain feels like. I should thank you for this, but...it'd be much more fun to destroy you…" He then turned and opened up some sort of portal. "And everything you care about." He said as he entered the portal.

"Come on! Stop him!" Reyna said as they all ran after him and jumped into the portal just by the skin of their teeth as the portal closed behind them.

(Third person POV omnipotent)

The portal opened as Tartarus walked through right into Camp Half Blood as all the campers saw the primordial and had no idea who it was.

"Who's that?" Asked Tyler Stoll.

"No clue." Conner said, shaking his head.

The commotion seemed to catch the attention of Chiron and Mr. D as they came running up, the both of them sensing an immense amount of power radiating from the man in front of them.

"Do you feel that Chiron?" Mr. D asked The Centaur.

"Yes." Chiron nodded. "It feels like the energy of young Nigel."

"Which means Tartarus has taken over his body." Mr. D added. This caused everyone to react in shock, this was their friend?

A second later, Leo, Jason, Calypso, Reyna and finally came falling out of the portal behind Tartarus. As the Demigods regrouped with the others Tartarus watched with an amused face.

"So, I see you gained a physical form, Tartarus." Chiron said as he got in front of the primordial. As the man looked at him in disdain.

"Very perceptive of you Chiron, Son of Kronos." Tartarus said, arms folded. He then looked and saw Percy standing with the others. "And now they're all here." He then raised his giant silver arms as he readied for a punch. "Now Heroes of Olympus, meet your reckoning!"

He drove his fist towards the son of Poseidon and his friends but was then suddenly stopped by a large hand catching the metal fist.

Standing there was a huge, muscular man with a vicious sneer. He was wearing black jeans, combat boots, a black leather duster, and a red muscle shirt under a bulletproof vest. He also has a large hunting knife strapped to his thigh. He wore a necklace made from a heavy padlock and thick chain as well as red-tinted wraparound sunglasses. Finally the man's features were handsome, but in a cruel and brutal way, with knife-scarred cheeks and an "oily" black crew cut.

The man was looking to the side as he had an aluminum baseball bat slung over his shoulder. "Hey asshole, where do you get off attacking my favorite punching bag? Huh?" The man said as he took off his sunglasses as it revealed that his eyes were actually flames. "Do you have a Death wish?"

Tartarus backed up a bit as he seemed to be surprised and visibly angry. "Ares, god of war." He growled.

"Yep, that's me." He nodded. "But I'm not alone."

That's when vines and roots suddenly appeared around Tartarus's legs and held him in place, then he was just barely able to block arrows that were sent at him, then a blast of sunlight hit him in the chest as he went to his knees and then several skeletal hands arms and held him in place as a massive torrent of water hit him and made him soaked to the bone. Then the primordial looked up as Ares hit him across the face with his bat, then thunder rolled as Tartarus was struck by an even bigger lightning bolt than what Jason hit him with, the water electrocuting him even more.

The man screamed in pain and as the attack subsided, he panted as his body steamed and smoked. Tartarus looked up as he saw all the gods standing in front of him with their weapons, and they all looked angry.

"Well Tartarus, you said you wanted to be the reckoning of Olympus, and here we are." Zeus said, looking down at him. "What will you do now?"

Tartarus panted as he shakily got up, his physical body's demi primordial nervous system making him feel immeasurable amounts of pain. He looked at Zeus in the eye as he spat in the gods face. "I...will be...your _DOOM!"_ He yelled as a black aura surrounded him and the gods were pushed back from the force of the blast.


	19. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18: Me and the gods beat my dad**

(Third person POV)

Tartarus sent a blast as a black aura surrounded him. His ethereal green eyes glared angrily at Zeus. "I...will be...your _DOOM_!" He yelled as he charged at Zeus and punched him in the gut, the did an overhead smash as the god was sent to his knees.

The primordial panted as his power surge helped him recover. "You may have gotten the upper hand on me at first, but now that I finally have gotten used to this body, I no longer have that limitation." He said as he walked up to Zeus and was about to deliver another punch, but was soundly swatted away with a clean blow to the head from Ares's bat.

Tartarus stumbled backward as he was met by Ares, who was twirling his bat in his left hand and putting his sunglasses on with his right.

"Hey Apollo! Toss me a sun ball!" He yelled at the sun god. Apollo smirked as he conjured a miniature sun and pitched it at the war god, who swung his bat and sent it straight at Tartarus. The sun hit the man dead center in his chest and exploded on contact, causing him be burned slightly and be sent skidding backwards.

Tartarus growled as he clenched his fists. "Don't toy with me Olympian! Die!" He roared as he charged and delivered a clean punch to Ares's face, then followed it up with a strong kick to the stomach and lastly an overhead smash to the back of the war god's head.

Ares lost his breath as he was sent to his hands and knees, before being pulled up by the collar up to Tartarus's face and the primordial glared at him angrily. "Did you actually think that you, a lowly insect, could ever be able to defeat me alone?" He taunted as he punched the god in his grip.

Ares turned his head spat blood on the ground in defiance. "'Course not. That's why I have help." Ares said as he brought his head back and collided it with the other man's. Causing the primordial to drop him. "Hey Jager!" Ares called. "I know you're in there so listen up. I don't take kindly to guys who're lazy ya hear me? So get off your ass and force this old coot out of your body!"

Tartarus growled as he ran towards the man, silver arms extended. "You're wasting your time, he can't hear you!" That's when Athena stepped in and used the man's mass against him, flipping him over her head and onto the ground on his back.

"That's where you're wrong." Athena told him. "Hades, Demeter, Dionysus, restrain him, quickly!"

Demeter nodded as she made more roots like before and Hades-albeit nonchalantly-gripped Tartarus down with skeletal hands, and Dionysus with vines. As the man tried to break free, but was still well restrained, Athena placed a hand on his temple and spoke. "Receive my message and hear calls, Nigel Jager Son of Tartarus, and awaken join us in this fight against your father!"

(In the mindscape of Tartarus/Nigel, Nigel's POV)

I slowly started to open my eyes as I saw I was in the same abyss I saw in my first dream, and sure enough there was my dear old dad and a live feed of what was going on in the outside world.

I got up as I faced my dad as he faced me, I glared and clenched my fists. "Now you've done it asshole, I hope you're ready for pain!" I yelled as I leaped at him, fist drawn back.

(Third person POV, regular world)

Tartarus was still able to control his body, even as Nigel tried to fight him from the inside, he ripped through his bindings and swatted the four gods away with his extra arms, as he got up he managed to catch an arrow that was shot at him from the side without even looking. He turned his attention to whoever shot it and was even more enraged by what he saw.

Apollo, Artemis and Reyna were all holding bows, Artemis had apparently been the one to shoot the arrow. "Well if he didn't know where we were before, he does now!" Said Apollo.

"Just shut up and shoot!" Artemis growled as they kept firing arrow after arrow,which kept getting deflected as Tartarus made his way towards them. That was until he let out a loud yell as he clutched his head, signaling that the fight inside his mind was still raging and was starting to turn favor. This allowed both Artemis and Apollo to land two clean shots into his shoulders, and sense he was disoriented he wasn't able to counter them using his powers.

Tartarus roared as he fell on his knees, his arms losing movement, the primordial was then met with a blade to the chest as Reyna drove her sword into it, causing him to cough up blood.

"This is for Nigel!" She yelled as she drove the sword deeper, this caused Tartarus to grow weaker as Reyna took both sides of his head in her hands and reeled her head back. "Now…"

(Nigel's POV mindscape)

I saw Reyna was in a similar situation as I was about to head butt my dad, who was weakened due to the double assault. "Give me…."

I could hear Reyna as we finished the same exact sentence. "My/his body back!" We yelled as we both head butted my dad, on my end his mental image shattered as I slowly felt myself get sent back into my body.

I slowly opened my eyes as I saw a very welcome sight, Reyna was kneeling in front of me as she gripped me by the collar tightly, her head bleeding from the head butt she did just moments ago, she looked at me and smiled as tears started to fill her eyes. "Hey…" I managed to croak.

She laughed as she hugged me tightly, luckily for me the arrows had disappeared, but my shoulders were still bleeding and were also numb, so I just let her hug me. As she let go of me she slugged me in the arm, if it weren't for the fact that my arm was numb, it probably would have hurt.

"Don't you _ever _do something like that again, understand?" She snapped at me.

I sighed as I just nodded. "Yeah yeah I hear ya." She slowly helped me up as all the campers and the gods gathered around us. Zeus was the first to say something.

"Nigel Jager." He said.

"Yeah?" I croaked, throat still sore.

"We have stopped your father, however you still broke the seal, allowing him to possess your body in the first place. That was against our decree made several years ago. Therefore you will face judgment according to your transgression." The man said.

That set me off. "Excuse me? I don't know if you noticed, Zeus, but the only reason why my seal was broken was because my little brother, who I had no idea about, attacked me and made me break the seal against my will. You think I _wanted _this shit show to happen?" I then decided to add. "And who's bright idea was it to put Lazarus in Camp Jupiter anyway?"

My statement seemed to anger Zeus, but before he could do or say anything, Athena put her hand on his shoulder, he turned to her as she shook her head. "I'm afraid he's right Zeus." Athena told him. "This is just as much our fault as it is his, our negligence played a role in this."

Zeus was quiet for a time, probably trying to calm the storm that was his volatile temper, heh get it? He sighed as he looked at Athena, then Percy, Jason and the other, then me again. "Be that as it may, laws are still laws, a sentence must be dealt. Therefore…" he looked around to make sure everyone was listening. "Once your injuries have healed you will come to Mount Olympus to face your judgement, do I make myself clear?"

I looked at the man dead in the eye and glared at him. "Crystal."

The gods, all but Mr. D disappeared. Leaving us alone. I looked at Reyna who was still holding me up as we smiled at each other. "Well...at least that's over." We said at the same time.


	20. Chapter 19

**Well readers, it's the second to last chapter before the end of the first arc of the story. which means that the next arc will need to be decided on, so i have three choices: 1. a crossover with the Kaines, 2. entering the Trials of Apollo after a brief timeskip, or 3. an arc focusing primarily on the redemption arc of Lazarus, Nigel's brother. please let me know in the reviews or by voting on the poll I'll have on my profile.**

**Chapter 19: I go to court, Olympus court**

Several days passed as I slowly started to recover from what happened with my dad. The Camp grounds needed repairs so I tried to help where I could, though it seemed that the others weren't letting _that_ happen.

"For the last time Nigel you need to be resting, your body has already been pushed to its limits as it is!" Jason told me as he tried to get me to stop trying to help carry some boards.

"And I told you that I'm fine." I said as I stood there, a board across my shoulder. It was true, I feel fine, I mean aside from the bandages that Hayden and Will kept on my chest and arms, my body had basically finished healing. But I still had a couple nasty scars from when Lazarus crucified me and drove a spear through my chest, as well as two scars on my shoulders from the arrows I got shot with.

Jason groaned as we continued to argue. This wasn't a rare occurrence even before all this happened, I _always _got into arguments with everyone. I guess since I pretty much died and came back to life made everyone a little more on edge.

As I set the board down so I could argue with Jason more, a voice suddenly cut in. "Jason stop arguing with him." A female voice said. We both turned and saw it was Piper who was talking, she had Reyna with her.

"Piper's right, you should have learned by now that Nigel has a compulsive habit of arguing and disagreeing with anyone or about anything." Reyna nodded with a knowing smirk. "Seriously I'm quite certain he'd argue with a brick wall if given the chance."

"Hey." I warned her, giving her a glare. Jason sighed in defeat and relented, going with Piper to finish supervising. That's when Reyna shook her head and gestured for me to follow her.

"Come on, it's time for your treatment." She told me as she started walking towards the Poseidon cabin.

I sighed as I followed her, we had gotten into this routine for the past couple weeks ever since I got my body back, she'd always have me follow her to my bunk where she'd take some kind of medicine and place it on my wounds. I really don't like doing it since I have to let her rub her hands on my wounds for it to work…

However if there's one thing I've learned after all this time with her is that you never argue with her, because there's really no point and she won't let you win anyway. We walked into the cabin as I sat down on a bench that Percy put in and Reyna sat behind me, she started by placing the treatment next to her before slowly and carefully unwrapping the bandages.

I hissed as the bandages came off and her hands made contact with my wounds, they had basically almost completely healed, but it still hurt when people touched it. The treatment Reyna was giving me was really helping, just wish I knew what it was.

As she rubbed my back with the stuff I shivered, it was cold. "What _is _that stuff anyway? Something the Hunters use?" I asked, trying to turn my neck to look at her. As I looked at her I saw that her face was a darker shade than usual around her cheeks, meaning she was blushing. I saw a couple other times and saw the exact same thing, and I couldn't understand why.

"It's called Androssis, a medicinal treatment used by the Amazons use." She said as she placed some of the purple colored liquid on where the arrows had gone through my shoulders. "It's made from a plant only found in New Rome, deep parts of the Amazon rainforest and the Amazon homelands of Pontus. It enhances healing as well as promotes scar tissue, and also wards off infection."

"Oh." I said as she seemed to be tracing her fingers along the burn scars I received from getting struck by lightning twice and blasted with fire, twice. "What are you doing back there?" I asked as a particular motion she did up the crease of my back made shiver and nearly jump.

"I'm trying to discern what scars need more treatment and which ones don't." She said with a level tone, one that seemed to be slightly forced.

"It feels more like you're trying to feel up my scars." I joked with a smirk. "What? Do they make me look badass?"

I could hear her try to stifle a laugh as she flicked my ear. "More like it makes you look like you came out of clash of the titans, now be quiet. I need to get this done."

I raised my eyebrows at that last part, we usually joked around when we were alone by now, but now she was making movie references? That was new, hell, I didn't even know she _liked _movies. '_Okay. Stick a pin in that for later.' _I thought as she tapped my shoulder.

"Alright, turn around, time to get the other side." She told me.

I turned around, facing her. This part was where things got awkward, we always ended up sitting in silence until she was done. But this time I decided it would go differently. "So…" I started. "You like movies?"

She was quiet for a moment before she took a deep breath and kept rubbing the liquid over my injuries. "I do." She replied. "But I tend to enjoy a very select few types."

"Like What? Action, horror, documentary, sci-fi?" I asked further, now she got me curious. She looked at me and rolled her eyes with a smile.

"I mainly like action and science fiction movies that revolve around war and battle." She told me. "And maybe the occasional Romcom film for a change of pace."

I chuckled. "Action, sci-fi and comedy does it for me, but I do usually watch horror movies on like Halloween for the sake of tradition." I then shuddered as her hand passed over the spot where the hole in my right shoulder used to be.

She then stopped as she traced down the rest of my front to make sure, which made me notice that she was paying extra attention to my muscle definition, which made me blush.

"Why Don't you take a picture? It'll last longer." I said, trying not to sound mad, but it was just really embarrassing.

She stopped and then finished up, seemingly flustered for a brief second or two before taking some bandages and started wrapping them around me. "Sorry." She said. "I just happened to notice that your muscle tone has become much more robust than it was before."

"Really? Huh." I looked in the mirror across the room, she did have a point. "Must be a side effect of what my dad did." I nodded. "Guess I didn't notice till now."

Reyna finished wrapping me up as she put up the ointment. "That should be good enough for this week." She told me.

"Ya know I'm grateful that you do this for me." I told her as I looked at her. "But you don't have to do this, I owe you remember? Not the other way around."

She then put the stuff in her bag she had with her and walked up to me, then just hugged me briefly. "This isn't about repaying a debt or anything like that." She said as she pulled back. "We're friends aren't we? And friends help each other, however they can."

That caused me to blush, having her say that really made me feel good, and the fact that her _ample _chest had made contact with mine was pretty nice too...okay that sounded weird.

I couldn't help scratching the back of my neck as I chuckled nervously. "Yeah, right." I nodded. A few seconds later Chiron came up to the cabin followed by Percy, Annabeth and Jason. The centaur was holding some sort of letter. "What is it Chiron?" I asked.

"I received a message from Hermes. The gods are saying it is time for you to come to Olympus for your trial." He told me, handing me the letter.

I looked at it, sure enough it was just like a court summons. I just ran a hand through my hair as I crumpled up the letter and threw it in the trash. "Great, perfect, this is just perfect!" I said in sarcasm as I put my newly repaired camp shirt back on.

"Complaining about it isn't going to help." Annabeth said.

"You'd be complaining too if you were about to go to a trial that's already been decided." I said.

"What do you mean?" Percy asked. "You think they're not going to give you a fair shot?"

"Think? I know they won't." I told him, putting my hands in my shorts pockets.

Jason was the next to speak. "Come on, Give my dad at least some credit, I mean Percy was in a similar position and he made it out."

I looked at my roommate. "Seriously?"

"Yeah. The exact same situation. And all I can tell you is this, the gods take the opinions of their kids into account when they judge a camper. So don't sell yourself short just yet." He told me, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah we're here for you." Annabeth added.

"Ditto." Jason nodded.

Reyna also put her hand on my shoulder and gave me an encouraging look.

I looked up and smiled at them. Man was I glad to have friends like them. After we got the message, we all traveled to New York City to get to the Empire State Building, where the entrance to Olympus was. As we walked in Chiron, in his disguised form, got a key to the elevator where we turned it and pressed a button to go up to Olympus.

I held on for dear life as the elevator shot up, getting faster and faster, higher and higher until _BOOM! _A big flash of light and a shake of the cab later and we're met with a huge cluster of clouds and various Greek style buildings at the other side of the door as thunder rolled and lightning crackled underneath our feet.

I slowly struggled to get up as everyone started to walk out, Percy helped me up a bit. "Gods of Olympus I thought I was gonna have a heart attack." I said as I stumbled out of the elevator.

"You'll get used to it. I was the exact same way when I first used the portal." Percy said, smiling.

We all walked up the marble steps of a large building that I assumed was where the gods were. We continued to walk through the halls until we reached a giant room with thrones all placed in a half circle around some sort of fire pit. The gods all sat in one of the thrones, each seeming to fit the god or goddess it belonged to based on appearance.

As I walked up to a podium that was in front of the gods, I noticed there was a spherical tank holding some sort of cross between a sea snake and a cow in it, the creature was sleeping. 'Bessie, the Orthotorus.' It said. '_Okay.' _I thought. '_That's weird.' _

I looked back at the gods before Zeus spoke. "Nigel Jager, today you will face judgment for the crime of breaking the seal that was placed upon you." He boomed.

I couldn't help myself as I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms in annoyance, this again? Then he continued, clearly noticing my attitude. "You will be aloud a single statement and then we will take a vote to decide your fate." The god of lightning said.

Again I rolled my eyes as I tapped my foot in annoyance. "That it Huh? That's how things'll go down?" I said as I looked down, hands on my hips as I chuckled. "Seems like this '_trial _was already decided to me, makes me making a statement seem pointless." I said this as I looked Zeus dead in the eye. "So I'm just gonna say what's on my mind. I don't care what you guys do, it'll just prove me right, you guys destroy anyone or anything that doesn't meet your standards or is related to someone who did something wrong without even considering if their innocent or not." I looked at all of them as I continued. "But I guess I can't say that I'm surprised right? I mean like the saying goes "a Jaguar can't change its spots."

As I finished Zeus seemed real pissed at me, but it seemed Hera calmed him down by whispering something in his ear, he then called for all the gods to vote. "Ares?"

The god of war looked at me before smirking. "Let him live, if he grows up to be as tough as his father was I'll have the perfect punching bag."

Zeus nodded then turned to Athena. "Athena?"

"I have heard many good words and praises of his prowess in battle and his overall character from my children." She told him. "And the fact that he seems to enjoy not only learning but also seems to go out of his way to be kind to my patron animal, certainly sways my vote. Let him live."

She was right, during my time monster hunting I saved a baby owl and helped it get back on its feet, now it acts as a sentry for me.

Next was Hesphestus. "My boy Leo told me about how this boy went out of his way to go on a quest to find him, even if it did end in him temporarily dying." The man then stroked his beard for a second. "That speaks volumes for me."

Then there was Hermes. "My dons say he's got a good sense of humor. And I appreciate a guy with humor, so I'll let him pass."

Then there was Apollo. "My kids Hayden and Will both got good things to say about this kid." The sun god said. "Those two aren't usually wrong so, I'm fine with him."

Artemis went after him. "I personally don't like him because of how much time he has been spending with my Hunter Reyna, But, be that as it may, I am glad to see her happy." She paused. "So for her sake. I'll let him live."

After her Mr. D went next. "I honestly don't care. But given that so many of the campers like him I'll vote to let him go."

Demeter voted to let me go, as did Hades was personally against it, probably because of how I antagonized Nico, and Poseidon voted for me, probably because me and Percy were roommates and because of the talk we had awhile back. Hera also voted for me, though something told me it was out of pity because I didn't have a mom, her being the goddess of moms and all.

Second to last was Aphrodite. "Mmmm…" She hummed as she looked at me, then she looked at Reyna, and then Artemis, then back to me. "I won't say why I'm voting to spare him, but I will say this, my match making senses are tingling_!_"

Zeus sighed. "Seems that the vote is in. Nigel Jager, you shall be spared the death penalty. However your sentence will be a house arrest for the rest of the summer. You are not to leave Camp Half Blood under any circumstances, understand?"

I nodded. "Yes sir." I couldn't believe it, I had just escaped the death penalty. As I turned to face everyone they immediately started either hugging me, giving me a noogie or high fiving me. I smiled as I looked back at the gods, looks like I have a lot of people to thank when I got back to camp.


	21. Chapter 20

**PLEASE READ! Well readers, here it is, the final chapter of the first story arc of Son of Tartarus. which means that from here on out the plot is up in the air. Which means that I need _your _help to decide on what it will be. and to do that I've posted a poll on my profile with three choices the winner will be the one I'll do for the next arc. PLEASE NOTE: if I don't find out which one to do the story WILL BE on hold until i figure out which one I'll use so please GO VOTE! I want your feedback!**

**Chapter 20: Aphrodite gives me advice **

After my trial in Olympian court I was brought back to Camp Half Blood, where I went around thanking everyone who put in a good word for me with the gods, every single one. I was absolutely over the _moon _at this point. Though having to be under Camp-Arrest sucked, but it wasn't an entirely bad thing.

I now spent my days mainly focusing on recovering my strength and also healing my remaining wounds, which had been made easier thanks to Reyna and her Amazon healing juice.

But besides all that, there was something that was really bothering me; during my trial Aphrodite said she wanted to spare me because her match making senses were tingling. I still had no idea what that meant, but I had a feeling it had something to do with me and Reyna.

Currently I was doing my regular workout routine in the colosseum. But I also changed things up, I added in doing jogging laps around the colosseum and also adding in several other exercises that the Aries cabin and Reyna showed me (dragonflies, dynamic planks, etc.). I did this everyday for three hours a day like clockwork.

I just got finished up with my last set of dragonflies as I saw Percy coming up towards me with a towel and a bottle of Gatorade, which was my favorite flavor, Glacial Cherry. I smiled as I caught both as he tossed them to me.

"Thanks Perc." I said as I dried my face and hair and drank some Gatorade. Percy chuckled as we both sat down on a bench. I set the bottle next to me as I rolled Suppressor across my wrist a few times.

"Something on your mind?" Percy asked.

"Just, thinking about all that's happened, I found out I have an evil little brother, my dad possessed my body and tried to hurt those I care about, I got crucified _in a junkyard_." I told him as I looked at him. "And to top it all off I had to go to godly court and apparently the goddess of love has her eye on my love life."

Percy whistled. "Yep, that's a lot alright." He then pulled out a ballpoint pen I immediately recognized as his sword Riptide. "I know the feeling."

I looked at my own weapon as I then looked up at the sky, my mind then drifted to something that has been on my mind ever since my talk with Reyna on Robin's boat. "Hey Percy?" I asked. He looked at me in question. "When you first realized you had a crush on Annabeth, how did you feel?"

As soon as Percy heard this, his drink must have went down the wrong canal because he then started to choke on it and cough. "What?! Why're you asking me _that?_"

"I just wanna know." Was all I told him. He then went quiet for a few seconds before he decided to answer my question.

"Well I remember we didn't get along at first. Then we started becoming really close friends, but then after that I slowly started thinking about her during every waking moment, wanting to make sure she was okay, wanting to protect her, heck I even dream of her a lot." He explained. "As for how I felt? Flustered was one word to use, another would be nervous, happy, and like my heart was doing a tap dance."

This all sinked into my head as I nodded. "Okay, Thanks for telling me." He then got up and took another swig of his drink.

"No problem, I hope that helps with whatever you were thinking about." Percy smiled as he left. "Later."

"Later." I replied. I took another chug of my drink, when all of a sudden a huge flash of light appeared right in front of me. I nearly fell over the bench as I almost jumped out of my skin. "Holy shit!" I yelled as I almost dropped my drink.

As the glow subsided I saw that there was a woman standing in front of me, a very hot woman I might add. In terms of height she around 5'10", will sun kissed skin, flowing black/blue hair, angelic and goddess-like features, a narrow waist, wide hips with matching smooth thighs, a heart shaped ass and eyes that looked like they were made of some high Grade obsidian crystals, and don't even get me started on her rac-I stopped myself as I shook my head, which made me notice that she was wearing a red satin dress and some matching pump sandals.

I shook my head again to get my brain together as I looked at her. "Uh hi." I said nervously, scratching the back of my neck as I stood up. "Can I help you with something?"

The woman smiled at me and it made me blush. That's when I realized just exactly what made me feel so flustered, she was making herself look like an older version of Reyna! The hair, eyes, even the bone structure was the same. She continued to smile before speaking. "Actually, I was hoping I could help you." She said.

After I managed to wrap my head around who this chick was, the only goddess that could easily change her appearance as easily as she does he clothes. "Aphrodite." I said as I stood up from the bench. I crossed my arms and tried my best to use my suppression powers to resist the effects of her power. "What are you doing here?"

The goddess looked confused as she looked at me. Gods why did I think Reyna looked so cute when she was confused?! "Isn't it obvious? I'm here to help you with your endeavor to win the heart of that Hunter of Artemis you like so much."

I immediately did a spit take as soon as she said that. "What?! Why?!" I asked in shock, I met her eyes as she gave me an amused look, then started filing her nails.

"It's simple." She told me. "I'm the goddess of love, it's my job to nurture budding romances when I see them, and I also take a particular interest in those romances that really strike my fancy."

I honestly couldn't believe what I was hearing, not only did she _know _I was crushing on Reyna, but now she wanted to _help_?! Didn't she know I was already in hot water with Artemis at this point? I decided to make my thoughts known to the love goddess. "Uh...you _do _realize that Artemis would probably hunt me down if I tried, right?" I asked.

She waved her hand dismissively at that in a haughty manner. "Oh don't you worry about _her_ I know how to handle that wild bitch." She then looked at me in question. "Hold on, does this mean Miss Ramírez didn't tell you about the prophecy I gave her?"

"Prophecy?" I asked.

"I gave her a prophecy as my Roman counterpart Venus, I told her that someone would come along and heal her broken heart. I also told her that it didn't necessarily have to be a Demigod, so it could be filled by anything." She explained, a hand on her left hip. "And I think a Demiprimordial like you would fit the role perfectly."

I was genuinely surprised that this was the case, why has this never come up? I shook my head, that didn't matter right now. I thought for a minute or two before I decided to speak. "And you're here to help with that?"

Aphrodite nodded. "That's right."

"But what if I don't have a crush on her?" I asked.

"Nonsense. You show all the signs." She said.

"Which are?" I questioned.

"Do you find yourself thinking about her every waking moment?" She asked. "Do you often find that other women can't compare to her? Do you feel your face burn and heart race when you talk to her or about her? Do you dream about her?" She was then quiet before she added. "Do you constantly want to protect her, even if she can protect herself?"

I nodded at all of those points, I hated to admit it, but I wasn't just crushing on Reyna, but I had apparently straight up fallen head over heels in love with her! I fell back on the bench as I put my face in my hands. "Oh gods...I _am _in love with her!"

The goddess gave me a knowing look. "Told you i knew. Now listen up, this is very important." She spent the next ten minutes giving me advice on how I should tell Reyna how I felt, and after that, she left me alone after disappearing in a flash of light.

I slowly got up as I took a few deep breaths. I walked out of the colosseum and started walking towards the lake, I sat down as I tried to calm myself, I was sitting there as I heard someone come up to me. I looked and saw it was Chiron.

"Nigel." The centaur said.

"Hey Chiron." I said as he laid his horse body down next to me. I sighed and turned to face him as I leaned back. "I've decided on something."

"What might that be?" He asked.

I looked at the lake and smiled. "Today I'm gonna tell Reyna how I feel about her." Chiron looked at me and I could tell he was surprised because his look said 'are you serious'? "And before you say anything yes I'm sure. And apparently I'm getting help from up there." I pointed to the sky as the centaur nodded knowingly, seemingly understanding what I was saying now.

"Well if you're getting help from Aphrodite I don't think I have much room to add anything." He said as he got up. "Though I will say this, good luck."

"Thanks Chiron." I smiled. I got up and started looking for Reyna, waving at my friends as I passed them, I rounded a corner as I saw her practicing with her sword spear, she slashed open a sand bag while spinning and then transforming it into a spear on a dime and thrusted it into another bag. I was amazed at how she was with it.

Reyna had been spending a lot of time here since Jason went back to Camp Jupiter to do some digging into my little brother Lazarus. She says it's to keep an eye on me for Artemis and the other gods, but given that she usually used a joking tone when she said this, I assumed she was just kidding.

I came up to her as she noticed I was coming. "Hey, you busy?" I asked her as she put away her spear.

"No, I was just finishing up." She told me. "You need something?"

I tapped my foot as I crossed my arms nervously. "No, I was...actually hoping to talk to you about something that's been bothering me for awhile now."

The Amazon walked up to me and stood there in front of me. "What is it?" She asked, her own arms folded.

I looked to the side as I gave a slight sigh. "You know how I told you that I've never really gotten along with other people my age right?"

"Yes." She nodded, seemingly confused as to where I was going with this.

"Well that kinda all changed when I got here. Once I got to camp, I actually started making friends, a lot of friends in fact." I told her as I met her gaze. "You being one of them, and I'm grateful for that."

She blushed ever so slightly at that, gesturing for me to continue. "Go on." She told me.

"When we first met, I'll admit I did come off as a bit of an ass, but once I actually got to know you, I actually found that we had a few things in common." I continued. "Then I actually realized that I actually kinda liked you. That feeling only continued to grow as time went on." She was surprised when I said this as I added. "And after all that's happened, I've finally realized what that means to me."

She turned to face me as she seemed to realize what I was saying. "Wait, Do you mean…?" We both looked at each other, and I was putting on my extremely serious face as I grasped her hand tightly.

"Reyna I-" that's when she cut me off by beating right to the punch by the best, and first, kiss I ever had in my entire life. I could feel my arms instinctively wrap around her waist as she wrapped hers around my neck. We stayed like that for a few seconds before separating and she gave me a knowing smirk.

"You talk too much, you know that Jager?" She joked.

"And you're all action and no thought Ramírez." I countered, which only made us laugh at how ridiculous it sounded. "But Seriously, I really do like you. No, I _love _you." I told her.

"Me too." The girl smiled, then waves of silver energy coursed over her body before it shattered. She sighed. "Well, looks like that's the end of it."

"The end of what?" I asked before I remembered her vow. "Oh...sorry."

The Amazon smiled as she shook her head. "No, it's alright, Lady Artemis knew I'd eventually fall in love with someone, so it won't upset her too much…hopefully."

"Yeah." I chuckled. "Hopefully." I held her hand for a minute before we both saw a silver stag staring at us from a clump of trees. "Is that…?"

Reyna nodded. "The stag the Hunters are after."

"Oh boy…" was all I could say, something told me that this was going to be a very long week.


	22. Chapter 21

**A******nd readers, here it is, the first chapter of the second arc of the story, which will be referred to as the "Demotic Clash" arc. which will pit our heroes against none other than the characters of the Kane chronicles! but that begs the question: will these two "True Myth" societies be able to work together to save the world and protect those they hold dear? or will all be wiped away like the Sahara desert? and where exactly does Lazarus fit in all this? A********lso if you would like to hear this story be turned into an audiobook, Please go to Hayden**** Daviau's twitter page: HaybaleVoice

**Or her Youtube: ** channel/UC7j5khYKbDo4HRUt9Rlcq7Q

**and suggest she do this as a fanfic reading. she's really good at it.**

**Chapter 21: Hunters, Egyptian gods and Kanes oh my! Part 1**

Me and Reyna stared at the Stag before it ran off. A couple minutes after it had left, Several girls around our age came out of the trees, every one of them were wearing some sort of robes. And there was one I recognized from a picture I saw in the Zeus cabin.

"Thalia Grace." I said as the girl came to the front of the group. She walked up to us and nodded at both of us.

"Yeah, that's me." Thalia nodded. "You must be Nigel, heard a lot about you." She said as she held her hand out.

I shook her hand as I smiled. "All good things I hope." She laughed before she looked at Reyna again seriously.

"Reyna, I got some bad-" she started to say before Reyna cut her off.

"I know." My now girlfriend told the Hunter, while squeezing my hand. "And I'm prepared to face any consequences Lady Artemis has for me."

I looked at her and glared. "Over my dead body!" I yelled. That's when a new girl came walking towards us, and the weird thing was, everyone was moving out of the way of her.

The girl looked to be the same age as the Hunters - with exception to Thalia- around twelve or thirteen. She had a face of such beauty that it made me wanna catch my breath, with cold and bright eyes as silvery yellow as the winter, and auburn hair gathered back in a ponytail.

Reyna then looked like she was when she was around the gods and kneeled to the girl. "Lady Artemis." She said.

My eyes widened for a moment, but then I glared as I crossed my arms. "Well well well, look who the cat dragged in." I said as I stared down at the girl.

Artemis looked at me as she looked up slightly. "And you still have that belligerent attitude, Nigel Jager." She then looked at Reyna. "Reyna, you knew how feel about my Hunters falling in love with men, and what do you do? You do it with no-"

That's when I got in between the two as I made my Darkness surround my hand. "Now hold on." I growled. "Aphrodite, or Venus, whatever, said she'd fall in love with someone eventually. What did you not know that?"

Artemis looked at me disdainfully. "Of course I knew, boy."

"Then you can't just punish her like the rest of your Hunters, it was already preordained." I said, but that just made me even more aggravated. "And although I don't like situations like that, but I can't exactly do anything about it."

Artemis glared at me as she grasped at her knife attached to her waist. I glared at her as the darkness I gathered spread from my hand, my arm and covered the right side of my body. "Go ahead and draw that knife, I dare you." I told her. "I've been _Itching _to test out my new Assault mode."

The goddess hesitated for a second, probably remembering when my dad (while in my body) gave her a pretty decent thrashing and prevented her from using her powers the whole battle once he got used to my body. She let go of the knife and sighed. "I may not tend to tolerate when my hunter break their vows, or this kind of treatment...but, I know when I'm beat." She said, but then glared at me. "But make no mistake, I will not forget this."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever." That earned me a punch in the shoulder from Reyna who was giving me an angry look. We led the Hunters into camp and everyone gathered around us, apparently this was a pretty big deal, and everyone was talking about a 'rematch' of capture the flag.

The Hunters all agreed, but first Artemis said they needed to set up in the Artemis cabin and that she had some business to discuss with Chiron and Mr. D.

Apparently it was a tradition for the kids at Camp Half Blood and the Hunters to do a game of capture the flag, which apparently the Hunters never lost. I smirked as I remembered that Jason would be coming back to Camp Half Blood pretty soon and so would Hazel and Frank, so it made me think that would change.

We all went to the gate as we saw Jason fly into camp. He landed on the ground smoothly as he walked up to Thalia and Piper, giving the former a hug and the latter a kiss on the cheek. He was also carrying a set of papers, which he brought to the mess hall for Chiron, Mr. D and Artemis to look over.

After that we all went to the playing field. All us Demigods made one team, while the Hunters made another team. Me, Percy and Jason were made the captains, we crouched as we discussed a plan.

"Okay, anyone got a plan?" I asked.

"Well I think our main line of offense should be obvious." Jason stated, gesturing to the Roman kids and the group of Demigods.

I nodded. "So that leaves defense." I gestured for Frank and Reyna to stay by the flag, which was by a small stream. "Percy, think you can use that stream to help those two?"

The son of Poseidon clicked the pin in his hand as it turned into his sword Riptide. "Definitely." He nodded. "And what will you do?"

I pointed at where the other team's flag was, it was guarded by Thalia and another hunter. "Me and Jason'll handle flag retrieval." I said as I pulled out Rebellion from the darkness pocket in my chest. "Besides, like I told Artemis, I've been itching to test my new Assault Mode."

We got up as Percy explained the plan to Annabeth who in turn explained it to the rest, Frank and Reyna staying behind with Percy at the flag. I whistled at Nico who came over to me, he was followed by Will and Hayden."

"Listen up Di Angelo, here's the plan you and Solace are gonna run distraction. Will, you and Hayden draw the Hunters attention and then Nico, you take them out while they're distracted with your shadow travel, got it?" I told the three.

Nico rolled his eyes but nodded, and the other three followed suit. The three along with the remaining Apollo kids lined up with their bows and then fired a volley that almost covered the sun, making plenty of shadow for Nico to disappear using his Shadow travel, Hazel also did the same but had to be extra sneaky.

That meant it was on to phase two of the plan. "Ready Clarisse?" I called to the daughter of Ares. She and the rest of her clan stood at the line of scrimmage, weapons ready and shields up.

"You better cher ass!" She yelled back as she waved her electric spear Maimer and fired a lightning blast at the already disoriented Hunters who were trying to avoid the magic arrows, which were cursed to cause them to only speak in rhymes which made them lose their biggest advantage: their unity. Which gave the Ares cabin the perfect opportunity to charge forward and engage in battle with the Hunters and drive them back.

I smirked as I nodded to Jason, with Nico and Hazel taking out the remaining line of defense, there was an opening. Time to move on to phase three.

Jason rose into the air, imperial gold sword in hand and I ran in sync with him as I activated my Assault Mode, my darkness surrounding my right side as I ran, Rebellion in hand.

That's when I was met by the Hunter who was with Thalia, she had a hunting knife in her hand which she held in a reverse grip, she looked to be a regular human, but with the energy she radiated you wouldn't think it. I smirked as I held my blade in a taunting way, which caused her to lash and slashed at my chest.

As I had theorized from constantly watching Reyna train, even if she was basically human, the Immortality Artemis gifted her was Thanks to the goddess giving her a sliver of her godly essence, which would explain how it was taken away so easily. But unfortunately for her, this meant her attack was susceptible to my trademark attack.

"Full Counter!" I said as I swiped Rebellion to the right, the cut was negated from me and was sent right back to her with double the damage, causing her to scream in pain and fall back.

Thalia, who was trying to fight off Jason, looked back at us and had worry plastered all over her face. "Rista!" She cried in panic as Jason used the opportunity to force her down. I walked over to the two and then made my right arm into a giant clawed arm and raised it.

"No Nigel don't!" Jason said.

I smirked as I swatted my hand to the side and broke the flagpole and caught it. I made it come to me and grabbed it. "Looks like we win."

The game was over, and we won. Everyone cheered as Jason and I grasped the flag as we roared in victory. The Hunters had lost for the first time in a long time, and it was great.

After the game Jason told me that Chiron and Artemis wanted me, him and Reyna to come to his office. I nodded as we went into the office and the Centaur, the moon goddess and Mr. D were sitting there.

"Ah Mr. Grace, Miss Ramírez, Nigel, please take a seat." Chiron said. We all sat and then turned to all of them. "We have something to speak to you about."

"What is it Chiron?" I asked.

"We have been discussing recent developments regarding some...disturbances in both New York and Phoenix." He explained. "And one of these developments involves your younger brother."

I straightened up at the mention of my brother, Lazarus, I still owed that little punk for crucifying me in that junkyard. "What about him?" I asked.

"It seems to be trying to regain his strength and is traveling all over the place. And as such we still don't know if he's still a threat, so we need you to locate him." Chiron said, looking at me.

I nodded. "Okay, But What about my probation?" Mr. D raised his hand.

"This is more important, besides if you decided to do this, your sentence would of course be shortened for doing us a service." He said. Artemis nodded.

"And Jason, you will be going to Phoenix with two people of your choice to investigate the disturbance down there." Artemis nodded to the blonde and then looked at me and Reyna. "And Reyna, keep an eye on him."

Reyna sighed, looking at me as I shrugged sheepishly. "I understand lady Artemis." She nodded.

"Now that that's done, the disturbance in Brooklyn." Chiron said. "Though take caution, we have a suspicion that the Egyptian gods may be behind it."

I stared at him. "I'm sorry, _what_?!" I couldn't believe my ears, the Egyptian gods, the _Egyptian _gods! They were real too?! "_Who?!_" I sputtering.

"Yes, they are indeed real, as well as the Norse pantheon. We try to stay away from each other but it seems that may not be an option now." Chiron said as he sighed.

I shook my head in disbelief, clutching my head. "This is not happening, this is not happening…" I then looked at Chiron again. "You sure?" I asked.

The centaur nodded, which only made me grown. But we didn't have time for that, after the situation was explained Jason had gone with Leo and Piper to Rachel to get their quest prophecy, then I went to the only person I could think of who could act as my third man.

He was sitting in his cabin outside his cabin sharpening his sword while Hazel was redecorating with the help of Frank.

"Hey." I said as Nico looked up from his weapon. "Don't suppose I could ask a favor of you?" I asked as I sat next to him.

(meanwhile somewhere in Phoenix Arizona, 3rd person POV)

A boy in a tattered purple shirt and black pants walked down the streets of Phoenix Arizona, he had a Mohawk and also some silver square headed nails hanging around his neck. He also had a familiar looking tattoo on his arm, one with SPQR, thirteen bars, and the symbol of Tartarus.

The boy wiped the sweat from his brow as he walked towards a swelling of energy that his powers were leading him to.

"Let's see if the Egyptian god of chaos is all he's cracked up to be." Lazarus said as he slung the duffel bag he had over his shoulder. "And see how they do against the son of Tartarus."


	23. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22: Hunters, Egyptian gods and Kanes oh my! Part 2**

I sat next to Nico as he looked at me and sheathed her sword. "What?" He asked, not looking happy that I interrupted him.

"Wow, you're snappy aren't you?" I said. "I need you to come with me to Brooklyn to investigate a disturbance."

"Why do you need me?" He asked.

"Everyone else is either busy, or on break." I told him. "Besides, your shadow travel will make things way easy."

Nico was quiet for a moment before he got up and sheathed his sword. "Aw, what the hell I don't have anything better to do anyway."

I smiled as I got up. "Good, we'll leave as soon as you and Reyna get ready." I left him to get ready, so I went to the armory where I walked up to Leo who was also packing up to go with Jason and Piper. "Hey Valdez."

Leo looked at me. "Yeah?"

"You got the weapons I ordered?" I asked, the guy nodded as he walked to the back and came back with a box. I opened the box as I saw a set of several Celestial bronze throwing knives, an imperial gold spear-sword coin, a Stygian iron bladed whip, and lastly a set of two Tartarus Silver knuckles.

"The knuckle dusters were the hardest to make, what with Tartarus silver being so rare and hard to control." Leo told me.

"Awesome, Thanks." I said as I took the box back with me to the Poseidon cabin.

I then proceeded to change clothes. I pulled off my old camp shirt and put on a new one I had just gotten the day before which had the sleeves removed, then I put on a pair of gray synthetic cargo pants, my favorite sneakers and then I strapped the whip to my left side, the knives across my chest, the coin in my pocket, and the knuckles in a holder on the back of my belt.

I walked outside as I saw Reyna was waiting for me. "You ready?" She asked, then she noticed my new weapons. "Is that, a Stygian iron whip?"

I nodded. "Just got it special ordered from Leo." She seemed pretty impressed with it, because she kept looking at it as we went to the camp entrance where Nico was waiting.

"What took you so long?" Nico asked.

"Had to get my new gear." I said. "Alright Nico, think you can get us to Brooklyn?"

"Course I can." The guy said as he got in the shadow of the camp's wall, then we all joined hands and we were surrounded by darkness for a minute or two before we appeared in the middle of the city.

I looked around and I noticed a lot of familiar landmarks, in particular, the east river we were definitely in Brooklyn now. The wind was cold, it had been several months since I came to Camp Half Blood, now we were in the latter part of December and the weather was cold. But since the Camp was surrounded by protective barrier we never really had to wear anything really warm, big mistake on my part.

Reyna noticed how cold I was and gave me a jacket she had with her. "Thanks." I told her with a smile. She smiled as she also put one on, Nico already had on a jacket. We started to walk around while I tried to use my powers to sense around for any kind of godly or monster energy. For a few minutes I got nothing but then as we neared an old scrapyard, I felt a hit, two monsters and what felt to be a god.

"This way!" I called as we bolted to the source, as we approached the epicenter of the energy, sure enough there were two monsters, but not ones I had seen before, and what seemed to be a goddess. They were in front of two kids in what looked to be Egyptian linens."Whoa." I said as I stood there.

The monsters were like nothing I had seen before, they were the size of oversized leopards, with the same body and head as a leopard, but they had the necks of snakes. The goddess with the kids looked small and agile, like a gymnast, with black hair, lamp-like yellow eyes, and wears a skin-tight leopard-print leotard.

I pulled out my Tartarus silver knuckle dusters and slipped them on. "You guys go to the goddess and those kids." I told Nico and Reyna. "I'll handle the monsters." I said this as I charged forward, my arm drawn back.

(Sadie Kane's POV)

I watched as my cat had just turned into some sort of cat woman and made two knives come from her sleeves. I watched as she and the creatures stood off, but before they could do anything, a boy came out of nowhere, colliding his fist with the first Serpard's jaw, instantly shattering it.

The beast shrieked in pain as it's jaw hung open. The boy hopped in place as he shadow boxed, showing that he had on some odd silver knuckle dusters.

"Whoo! That's what I'm talking about boi! Don't you mess with a Son of Tartarus!" He cheered. He was jumping around as the second creature lunged at him and he dodged, flipping over its head and whipped out a black metal bladed whip, which he used to wrap around the creature's neck and sliced its head clean off.

The monster disappeared and the dust it left behind swirled into the boy's hand and formed a black pyramid the size of a marble with a red core. He put it in a bag that hung from his belt. The second monster tried to attack but the boy didn't even look as he threw a bronze colored knife into the creature's gaping mouth that stuck out of the other side of its head.

The same thing happened with the other monster. After the boy put away his weapons and turned to us. "Yo! You guys okay?" He asked in a clear accent.

Muffin, or Bast now I guess, got in front of us and stood between him and us. "Who are you?" She asked.

The boy backed off raising his hands in surrender. "Whoa there, easy. Lady, I'm on your side." He said, as he turned to his right as two more kids came running up. One was a girl and the other a boy.

The blonde headed boy sighed as he tried to relax. "Took you guys long enough." He snapped at the shorter boy who looked pail and in need of a bloody nap.

"Don't blame me." The kid said.

The other boy rolled his eyes as he turned to us. "I'm Nigel Jager, Son of Tartarus. This is Nico, the Son of Hades, and my girlfriend Reyna Ramírez-Arellano, daughter of Bellona."

My brother Carter's eyes widened in surprise. "Wait, those are all Greek and Roman gods." I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"Those are real too?!" I said in shock.

Nigel chuckled. "Trust me I was just as surprised as you were when I found out that the Egyptian gods were also real." He then turned to where the mansion. "What in the name of Hades is _that_?"

We all turned and saw that there was four copper men in kilts carrying a sarcophagus of some sort, and the mansion was on fire. Nigel twirled the silver bracelet he had on and it turned into a double headed spear with one end was a harpoon end and the second was like an Ax head.

He charged the men as they came towards us, then Reyna and Nico had us follow them. "Wait, don't you think we should help him?" I asked.

"Nigel is our resident monster hunter, he'll be fine. Come on!" She said as we ran and Bast directed us where to go.

(Nigel's POV)

I swung Suppressor around as I slashed the copper men apart as if they were play dough. But the thing was, they just kept rebuilding themselves. I let my power course through my staff and I swung it's ax end around.

"Critical Slash!" I yelled as I cleaved them in half. After that I put away Suppressor and brought out my new whip, which I call Whiplash. Then I waved it around and sliced the men into tiny chunks. They then dissolved into sand, I wasn't able to add them to my collection.

I knew that the others were probably gone by this point so I tried zeroing in on where Reyna's unique Demigod energy signature was, once I lock onto it I activated my Assault Mode and allowed my power to lead me to where they were.

(Carter Kane's POV)

I stood there frozen in fear as Bast, who had activated some sort of battle magic from, Sadie who was trying and failing to open a portal and the two Demigods Reyna and Nico were trying to fight off a scorpion woman who was attacking us.

I drew the sword I took as I tried to move to help them when Nico suddenly stabbed his sword into the ground and several skeletons came up from the ground, kicking and stomping away at the Scorpions. I slashed and slashed my sword as well but there were just too many.

Bast and Reyna didn't look so good either, the Scorpion woman who was controlling the bugs was walking towards them as Bast's battle form disappeared and the two jumped back. It seemed like we were goners when suddenly.

CRASH!

A huge shadowy clawed hand slammed down on the Scorpions and squashed most of them. Following the hand landed Nigel, who's right side was now a dark black-purple and an odd symbol was on his forehead. He smirked as he flexed his hand.

"Gods of Olympus I love Assault Mode." He said as he faced the woman in the brown robes. "So this is an Egyptian god huh? She doesn't look so tough."

The Scorpion woman looked like she was being cautious around him as his hand suddenly took the same giant clawed form again. He swung it at her as another huge portion of her big army was sent flying. The woman backed up and looked angry.

Nigel looked back at Nico, the eye that was on the side that was covered in darkness looking cloudy. "Nico, think you can shadow travel us to camp yet?"

"Not yet! I need a little more time!" Nico said. The other boy nodded and turned back to the Scorpion woman.

"Go find somewhere safe then, I'll handle this bitch." Nigel said as his hand returned to normal shape and he drew out a purple, very short, and vaguely S shaped sword with a fan shaped guard from a pocket of darkness in his chest. He brandished it and smirked.

Nico nodded as he grabbed me and I grabbed Sadie as Bast was grabbed by Reyna as we ran, Bast directed us to a museum and told us to go in. As we did I wondered if Nigel would be okay.

(Nigel's POV)

I looked at the woman with the Scorpion on her head as I brandished Rebellion, I could sense that she was radiating godly energy, which made me a little nervous, but not much. Ever since my dad had possessed me my power ceiling had gone way up, if I was using a weapon like Rebellion or Suppressor, or in my Assault Mode I was able to hold my own against a god or at least I hoped so, I hadn't tested that theory yet.

But I was too giddy be scared, I waited for the woman to attack, and she did by turning her hand into a giant pencer and swiping at me, I used full counter to send it right back at her which made her stumble back, I then tossed my sword in the air and made my arm a big claw again, smacking her into a tree.

The woman tried to get up but I slammed my enlarged palm into her and knocked down several trees as I grasped her and hurled her across the park. With her dealt with I caught Rebellion and deactivated Assault Mode. Which made my knees feel wobbly.

Another thing about my new skills. They longer I may have stronger abilities, but I can only use them for a certain amount of time for a certain amount of times before my body starts to give out. Right now I was reaching my limit after using Assault Mode three times in a row today.

I started running towards where the others had gone. I only hoped and prayed to every god in Olympus that they were still okay.


	24. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23: We go to a temple, then Camp**

I ran down the street, following the signatures of Bast and the others, I followed it until I reached a Museum. I stumbled in as I tried to stay upright and followed the signatures, it took me a few minutes, but as the signals got stronger alarms went off, I sped up, I was worried about what that meant.

That's when I heard it, slivering sounds, hundreds of them. That sent me running ignoring my fatigue. A few seconds later I reached reached the others, standing there with them was an Arabic woman in blue robes. I ran up to them and made them get behind me, then I got out my new sword-spear.

"Alright bitch, stay back or else." I flipped the coin and it turned into a sword, I then pointed it at her. She looked at me and pulled out some sort of curved stick and pointed it at me.

"If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead already." She said, waving her stick as my sword turned back into a coin.

I looked at the coin in shock. "What the _shicst _did you just do bitch?!" I growled as I whipped out my whip and cracked it. The room shook as the slithering sounds got louder.

She just looked at it. "Follow me if you wish to live." She said and gestured to the hall. I was about to rip this woman to ribbons but Reyna stopped me, shaking her head.

"I don't like it any more than you do, but we need to go." She told me. I looked at her and cursed under my breath. We followed the woman to a room where they had a reconstructed temple.

The woman directed the two kids, Carter and Sadie to put small statues in the compass directions of the room and then drew a circle around it. The circle glowed red and the woman turned a stick she turned a stick she had into a staff.

I slowly walked towards the woman and looked at her. "Who are you?" I asked.

"I am Zia, magician of the house of Life." She said. "Who are you?"

"Nigel Jager, Son of Tartarus." I told her. "So you're like, Egyptian?" She looked at me and nodded.

"And you three must be part of the Greek sect. Demigods...disgusting." She spat.

"_Excuse _me?" I snapped as I cracked my whip. "You got a lot of nerve saying that."

That's when the slithering sounds got louder, then the weird Scorpion lady came in, her creepy crawly auntaroge with her, the bugs made their way to the circle but sizzled and popped like sausage on the grill when they made contact. The Scorpions all gathered back around her and shrank away in fear.

Zia ran forward as she fired some sort of magic at the woman as some sort of portal opened in the gap of two pillars behind us. Carter drew a sword he had and attempted to attack the Scorpions, but Zia beat him to it and then tried to attack the woman with seven ribbons while speaking an incantation in Egyptian.

The ribbons seemed to burn the Scorpion woman because she wailed in pain as the ribbons wrapped around her. Zia walked up to her and pointed her staff at the bug lady's neck.

"Release your host." She told her. The woman spat and cursed in another language. The ribbons then wrapped around her entire body as black ooze drained out of her and the body of another woman was left behind.

Bast got up but stumbled back to her knees because of her injuries. "Look out!" She called to Zia. The black ooze started gathering into a giant black cloud as it took the shape of a giant Scorpion. Me, Reyna, and Nico stood ready to fight with Carter as Zia jumped back into the circle.

That's when a portal made of a giant sand storm opened, I turned to look at it, then at the others, if we didn't go now, we'd be dead. So I conjured up as much power as I could before forcing them back.

"Blackout!" I yelled as my darkness encased the giant bug and slowly started to crush it. "This won't hold long, we gotta move, _NOW!" _I yelled as I turned and started running to the portal, the others followed me as we dove head first into the portal.

(Reyna's POV)

After we had dove into the portal we all tumbled out the other end onto some sort of marble floor. My clothes were covered in sand and I could see that the others were too.

I got up as I helped Nigel and Nico up. Nigel could barely stand, his body was tense and trembling, it only got like this when…

"You used too much power again didn't you?" I questioned as I let him lean on me. He groaned in pain as he tried to stay up. I groaned, he _knew _I hated it when he did stuff like this.

The Arabic woman Zia got up as we all dusted ourselves off. Bast had somehow turned herself back into a Sphinx cat. I had Nico and Carter hold Nigel up as I stomped up the Zia and pulled out my knife, holding it to her neck. My two Automaton hounds coming to my side.

"Alright magician, you have exactly _ten seconds _to explain what the shisct is going on before I slit your throat right here." I told her, my dogs growling. "And Don't try lying, my dogs can smell lies."

Zia seemed to regard me with a mixture of surprise, disgust and impressment. She took a deep breath and said. "Not here. Too many eyes and ears."

I looked around and saw that there were people around. I put away my knife quickly, luckily my dogs had disguised themselves as well. I noticed that we were in an airport, more specifically the Cairo airport.

Zia led us through the airport and then somewhere underground. Explaining as we went along, about nomes (Egyptian districts and how the world was part of them) and the role of the House of Life. Nigel had scoffed when she mentioned that magicians were trained to fight gods, stating that he was created to _kill _godsthis was true of course but it was still a facetious comment, so I slugged him in the shoulder.

I also took the time to explain our situation as well, Zia seemed to be apathetic towards that, saying that what the Greek Gods did was not a concern of hers, but Carter and Sadie seemed worried, even terrified when I mentioned that Jason and the others were investigating Phoenix. This put a very sour taste in my mouth, mainly because this woman reminded me of someone, _myself _or at least how I was before the end of the giant war, and I hated how similar we were.

Ten minutes and an odd encounter with a human headed turkey later, we were lead into a hallway, one that stretched on for seemingly miles, we walked into several different sections, each a different color. They showed odd videos which, Zia explained, were the memories of the Egyptian gods from the beginning to the present. I was both confused and intrigued, Magic was never really something I understood, so this was entirely foreign to me.

The hall continued until we came to an odd throne room of some sort. An old man, who looked to be ancient, was sitting at the foot of the throne. Another man entered as he questioned Zia about who we were. He spoke with a French accent and his face seemed to contort in disgust when Zia mentioned we were Demigods.

"Greeks and their gods, mating with humans? How revolting!" He shuddered, I was about to knife the fool when the old man spoke in perfect Greek.

"Do not antagonize them." He said.

The man backed off. "Masters Iskandar ...of course, I'm sorry." as he backed away, the old man came up to us and stood in front of us.

"Please Excuse my disciples rudeness." He said. "You must have come a long way. I will be happy to answer any questions you may have, if you would be willing to tell me what you are doing here."

I was about to speak up when the other guy interrupted. "I do not see why we should explain anything to them master, the Greek gods and they're horrid offspring have no business being here." The man snapped.

That's when a black claw swiped at him making him jump back. The claw retracted back to its source, which was a shaking and still weak Nigel.

"It became _our _business when the Egyptian gods decided to stir up trouble in _our _territory asshole!" He growled as he fell to his knees. I ran up to him and he collapsed onto my lap. I tried to get him to rest as I explained to Iskandar the situation, which was then followed up by Carter and Sadie, as well as Zia.

Iskandar seemed concerned about something for a second or two before before speaking. "This is very grave indeed, Zia, we must have these children trained as soon as possible." He then gave her a serious look. "I am leaving them in your care."

"Yes master, I will do my best." Zia nodded.

Then the old man turned to me. "As for you and your friends, please tell the Olympians that we are grateful for their assistance in this grave matter." He then added. "And we will also be willing to help in any way we can."

I nodded at him. "Thank you sir." I then turned to Carter and Sadie. "If you two ever need us-" I tossed Carter one of the compasses Leo had made to help us get back to Camp. "Use that, it'll lead you right back to us."

"Where?" Sadie asked.

I smiled as I looked down as Nigel's sleeping face. "Where all demigods call home, Camp Half Blood."

(Elsewhere in Phoenix Arizona,Jason's POV)

I ran down the dusty roads of Arizona with Piper and Leo right behind me, we were chasing Lazarus, Nigel's jerk of a brother, who had somehow gotten some sort of power boost from stealing a fraction of the power of an Egyptian god.

The guy ran at unbelievable speeds as he tried to throw us off course as he threw caltrops made of Tartarus silver at our feet and made them bigger, I was barely able to fly us over them as he stopped running and turned to face us.

"Finally, you're all right where I want you." He said as he unsheathed a Stygian iron sword.

"What are you talking about?" I asked. Five seconds later I got my answer as the ground shook and a fiery form of a man with an odd animal head appeared in front of us.

"You thief." The man said, pointing at Lazarus. "You dare steal power from the great Set?"

Lazarus smirked as he brandished several of his Tartarus silver nails. "Oh I'll be taking more than just a small bit of power _Set_." He then lunged at the god as it did the same, and we realized we were right in the middle.


	25. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24: Lazarus steals from Set**

I slowly woke up after passing out in the middle of the Hall of ages, all I could remember was that Desjardins guy insulting us before I gave him what for, then everything went black.

My eyes fluttered open as I noticed my head was on something soft, or rather two somethings. I turned and I was met with a very familiar looking smooth and toned story which was covered by a purple Camp Jupiter shirt. I then looked up and saw Reyna looking over me as she stroked my hair. _Gods _I loved it when she did that.

"Urg." I groaned as I sat up, my whole body still aching. "How long was I out?" She sighed as she rubbed my back before smacking me in the back of my head. "Ow! What was that for?!" I yelped as I clutched my head.

"That was for over exerting yourself, _again! _And you were out for two days." She snapped at me. She then sighed as she facepalmed. "Gods what am I going to do with you Nigel?"

I looked at her in surprise, two days? How'd that happen? I then looked at her then at my hands. "I need to push myself, it's the only way I can get stronger." Reyna looked at me in understanding as she gripped my hand, I laid my head on her chest as I listened to her heartbeat. "Ah, this is nice…"

We stayed like this for awhile before something came to me that I had wanted to ask her when we had first kissed. "Hey Reyna?" I asked. She looked at me as I continued. "When did you actually start liking me? I knew I liked you pretty late in the game, as hard as that is to admit."

Reyna was quiet for a second. "I'd say it was after our heart to heart conversations during our first quest together." She then continued. "Before then I had considered you a friend, but after we both managed to exchange our secrets with each other, I guess that's when the seeds of a crush were planted in me."

I took this in, so we were both pretty slow, good to know. I laid back on her lap and noticed we were in my bunk at the Poseidon cabin. I thought back to when I told my foster parents about the camp and how I liked living here, of course I'd be going back to see them when Camp was on break, but they understood why I decided to spend more time here, I mean I do have some great friends.

Our quiet moment was pretty much ruined When Percy and Annabeth came barging in. I tell you their timing is impeccable when it comes to that. They came in and I sat up from Reyna's lap.

"Guys we got a problem." Percy said.

"What?" I asked. They told us to follow them and we soon found that there was a weird animal of some sort surrounded by the other campers and two very familiar looking kids. "Is that the Kanes?"

"Yeah, apparently they had ended up in DC and were about to get on a plane to Memphis but were chased by that thing." Percy explained. "The girl said that when they were running she took out the compass that Reyna gave her and it lead them to one of the instant entrances and ended up here."

"Wait we have those?" I asked as I put on my Tartarus silver knuckle dusters.

"They're usually only for emergencies." Annabeth nodded. We all looked at what had chased the Kanes here and it was really ugly. The creature looked like a cross between a jackal, a snake and a big wolf.

I clenched my fists and let my darkness surround them and charged at the beast, sliding in while pivoting on my left foot while _slamming _my fist in the creature's face in a downward punch and sending it to the ground.

The animal shook its head as it got up wobbly and tried to stay up. I took this opportunity to keep punching it over and over again, then I gave it a good uppercut to the lower jaw, which caused it to rear up and fall flat on its back.

I jumped back and turned towards Percy as it was starting to get back up. "Okay Perc, Let's give Fido here a bath!" The Son of Poseidon nodded as he conjured up some water from the stream next to the cave and washed the animal with it, making it fall on its stomach as it lost its footing again.

I jumped back again as I landed next to Clarisse, who had her electric spear Maimer with her. "Alright La Rue, light em up." I told her as she smirked and twirled her spear as it sparked and crackled with electricity.

She threw the spear right at the animal as it rose itself up, which allowed the spear to go dead center into its chest and then-ZAP-the animal was soon being electrocuted as if it had been hooked up to a generator by some jumper cables. The beasts skin sizzled and burned until pretty soon it's charred skeleton was all that was left, standing there jaw agape as it then crumbled into ash.

I stretched out my hand as I made it into another stone. I looked at it and it also had a red core. What was with that? I shrugged and just put the stone in my bag and tied it shut. Everyone went over to the Kane kids and they were both pretty shaken. Especially Sadie, she seemed shaken because she had temporarily turned herself into a Kite earlier.

We brought them and Bast to Chiron and Mr. D, apparently while I was out Artemis and the Hunters had left. We all sat in the councilor office while Carter and Sadie explained the situation. I was pretty glad that they were able to get here, but then I decided to ask.

"So my guess is you need to get to Memphis right? To meet this Toth guy?" I asked.

"Yeah." Carter nodded.

"Well okay then, looks like we're going to DC." I got up and turned to Chiron. "Say Chiron." He turned to me expectantly. "Do those transport caves work two ways by any chance?"

(Meanwhile in Phoenix Arizona, Lazarus POV)

I skid back in the sand of the desert floor and my Stygian iron short sword dug into the ground to stop my movement. I looked up as I saw Set's fiery apparition being distracted by the Demigods who had been chasing me. I spat in the sand as I stood up.

"Now look what you idiots did." I said as I walked forward. "If you hadn't gotten in my way, this wouldn't have happened."

"Why Don't you do us all a favor and just shut and fight then?!" The Son of Jupiter, Jason yelled.

I rolled my eyes. Not that I could argue with his logic, as the old saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. I charged forward and leaped on Set's back, darkness coating my body as I started siphoning off his godly essence as I felt myself grow stronger as he grew weaker.

Set roared as he threw me off, but it was all for naught, the damage was already done, his flaming body started to flicker and fizzle out as he tried to keep himself together.

"This host is starting to reject me? Now? Impossible!" He roared as he was suddenly slowly separated from his physical form. "Noooo!" He roared as he disappeared, leaving the charred remains of a man behind.

I could feel his essence empower me as I faced the three Demigods. "He'll be back once he finds his perfect host." I said. "We should get moving."

"Why should we listen to you?" The scrawny Latino boy asked.

"Because you dolt." I said. "I want the same thing you want." Jason looked at me in question as he stepped towards me.

"And what's that?" He asked.

"The destruction of Set and the Egyptian gods." I told them.


	26. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25: The enemy of my enemy.**

(Jason's POV)

I was pretty dumbfounded by what I just heard. Lazarus, the guy who crucified my friend and his own brother, aided in bringing Tartarus into the mortal realm, and caused me and my friends more trouble than I could even think of, was saying that he wanted to help us. I looked at Piper and Leo and then back at him.

"What are you talking about?" I questioned. "We don't want to destroy the Egyptian gods." As I said that he sighed and rolled his eyes as he crossed his arms.

"No, maybe not now. But you will." He said, matter of factly. He sheathed his sword and continued. "The Egyptian gods do nothing but cause loops, they do the same thing over and over again with no nuance, often with cataclysmic results, and we get caught in the crossfire." He then pointed at the beginnings of the pyramid we had seen earlier. "That being one of them."

"What's your point?" Piper questioned.

"What I'm saying is, nothing good can come out of having two pantheons of gods around, if anything the Egyptian gods will pose nothing but a constant and tedious threat." Lazarus elaborated. "Now that being said, I think the most pressing issue here is Set and that pyramid, so why don't we put our little confrontation on hold until this is resolved?" He suggested, holding his hand out.

I nodded, this guy did have a point. "Yeah, I got you. Like the old saying goes, the enemy of my enemy…"

"Is my friend." He finished as we shook hands.

(Meanwhile back in DC, Nigel's POV)

After a short trip through the travel caverns we arrived at DC, where the Kanes had previously been. And now we were making our way to the airport to take a plane to Memphis. Apparently we had to go there to meet with the Egyptian god of knowledge, Toth. Which made me really glad that Annabeth decided to come along, because Zeus knows we're gonna need her.

Chiron also came with us, which was honestly great because if there's one thing that knew, we were gonna need a mediator to help us with talking to the Egyptian god, no doubt, not to say Bast wouldn't have worked it's just, I wasn't sure she'd really explain the situation with us that well if you catch my drift.

Getting on the plane wasn't a problem, Bast disguised herself with a red pantsuit and Chiron was able to get us a few tickets. Then we got on the plane, and boy, when I say things were awkward on the plane they were _awkward_. We had given Sadie and Carter each a set of jeans and a pair of Camp Half Blood shirts, but unfortunately the regular mortals on the plane looked at us as if we were aliens from Star Trek or something.

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. That's when Reyna laced her fingers with mine and smiled at me. I returned the gesture by squeezing her hand, I still wasn't sure if it was by just sheer luck that we were able to _not _get smited by Artemis when we became a couple or if Aphrodite actually did what she said she was gonna do, but either way I was happy about it.

Carter had been asleep for awhile, apparently trying to fight off the Set creature like he did before he got to camp took a lot out of him, poor kid.

Bast had mentioned that apparently sleeping without some sort of headrest, at least for magicians, would cause them to have experiences similar to how us demigods do in dreams. I honestly didn't understand most of the mumbo jumbo she was spewing but Chiron certainly did.

Speaking of the centaur, he and Bast were actually talking about what exactly did kinda catch attention, apparently some Egyptian god, Set, was planning on creating some sort of storm to recreate the Sahara desert in Phoenix. I really didn't like the sound of that.

Just then, Carter had bolted awake after what I assumed was a bad dream. He Sadie talked for a moment before I decided to see what was going on.

"What's up?" I asked. The guy turned to me and told me about the dream he had, about the red Pyramid he saw and about their dad being in the center of it. By this time Bast and Chiron also listened in too, can't say I blame 'em, it was pretty heavy.

After Carter finished we soon arrived in Memphis and Chiron got us a ride while Bast drove Sadie and Carter in a Sadan. We drove for awhile before we arrived at the Memphis university.

We entered the building and followed the Kanes through the building until we reached its gym, all us demigods were caught off guard when we saw two Baboons playing basketball in the gym.

Both Sadie and Carter looked surprised as they saw one of them, one wearing a Lakers jersey. I stifled a laugh as they called it's name. "Hufu!" I heard them yell as the monkey stopped what he was doing and came up to us.

The two then proceeded to talk to the primate, with Bast (who apparently spoke baboon) translated for them. That was when Carter decided to start play shirts and skins with the monkeys. And what followed was the most hilarious, pitiful and ridiculous game of basketball I had ever seen. After which carter had apparently been so winded that he passed out on the ground like Mob from Mob Psycho 100 after a light jog.

Both Bast and Sadie helped him up as all the baboons started howling in what I assume was their form of laughter and the baboon the Kane's knew, Hufu, looked absolutely ashamed.

Bast soon left after that, leaving us to go to the office of Toth with Hufu leading the way, wherever that was. Chiron walked in front of us while following the baboon as we looked for the correct office, passing several, including one that was inside a broom closet. We kept walking until we saw a door that read: "Dr. Toth" on it.

Chiron knocked on the door as we all entered and his centaur form became visible, the room was impossibly huge and had ibises tapping away on laptops. I honestly couldn't stop myself from getting a headache as I rubbed my forehead, this was gonna be a huge pain, I just knew it.

(Meanwhile in Phoenix, Jason POV)

I tried my best to follow Lazarus up camelback mountain, both Piper and Leo being right behind me as we neared the top. Lazarus looked back at me and gestured up with his neck.

"Come on, It's just over this ridge." He informed me. We kept climbing until we both reached the top and I helped the others up, all of us were panting except Lazarus who didn't seem affected at all as he scoped out the horizon. "There, that's it." He stated, pointing forward.

I looked at where he was pointing and my eyes widened. What stood at the center of the mountain was a giant blood red pyramid that looked halfway done, I thought it was big before but now that I saw it up close, it was massive! I heard Piper gasp in horror as she grabbed my hand tightly. I held her close as I looked at her, and then back at Lazarus.

"What is that?" I asked.

"That, Jason Grace Son of Jupiter, is the Red Pyramid." The second Son of Tartarus told me. "And it is the key to our goal of destroying the Egyptian gods." He added with a slight grin as we all watched as the pyramid was being built right in front of us.


End file.
